


The Demon's pictures

by Sorfu



Series: Toddler Demon [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Genre: Alcohol, Arguing, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne Has Issues, Drinking, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fighting, Friendship, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Trauma, rocky relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:13:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 41,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22306975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorfu/pseuds/Sorfu
Summary: Batman returns to his cave to find some pictures sent to his computer. The pictures each seemed to show a part of a story. A story about the son he burried.Hours later he was flying the batwing to an island belonging to the league of assassins.or- The bats are tipped of Jason's revival and are set to get him back. Of course, nothing is so uncomplicated that they can just pick up their presumed dead teenager and just go on as a happy family the next minute.Centered around Jason, his return to Gotham and vigilantism, new life with family and friends and his search for his mysterious teacher: Damian
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Roy Harper & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Alfred Pennyworth, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Jason Todd
Series: Toddler Demon [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1605607
Comments: 101
Kudos: 738





	1. The room behind bars

Bruce sat tensely, death grip on the yoke.

Dick was in the seat beside him, arms crossed and tapping his finger on his overarm. Body equally stiff and eyes narrowed in the same intimidating way, he knew they were both impatient. Infinity island seemed infinitely far away, and they were moving just too slow.

It was hours since they’d first seen the pictures in the cave.

A team up between Superman and Batman had both of them entering the Batcave after the successful mission where Nighwing and Robin waited after they had their own team-up. Nightwing had just convinced his little brother to ride the alien’s shoulders when Bruce noticed a file his systems had picked up as suspicious.

He scanned the file for any viruses and only opened it when it came out clean. The file was a folder containing five jpg. files. He clicked the first icon and watched it open on the screen.

“B, look! Timmy’s taller than all of us now!” Dick said with a wide grin, followed by giggles from the kid.

But the bat didn’t respond.

“B?”

Nightwing walked closer and looked at the screen. The facial-recognition-software was open and running in the corner while the rest of the screen were filled with pictures he was pretty sure he hadn’t seen before. One seemed to be of a map on a table. Three others were of a man, or maybe a teen. Sized up and in front was one showing a dark grey room behind bars. The small room contained little other than a cot and chains with handcuffs attached to the wall, and even if he hadn’t seen so many, Dick was sure he could recognize it as the stereotypical dungeon it was.

“Our next mission?” Tim piped up from behind as Clark put him down on the floor.

Bruce still didn’t answer. The young boy then looked to Dick for help, but he didn’t respond either. Only looking at the screen with wide eyes and lips parted. Clark however seemed as confused as the kid felt about the two’s reaction.

Tim looked to the screen and at the pictures. In the corner was a blinking window with two words on it: “match found”.

\---

Dick stopped tapping his finger and pulled the picture of the dungeon up on a holo-screen as it seemed Bruce hoped his hard grip would make the plane go faster.

A few of the pictures had hidden text in them, this one had some scribbles with what looked like chalk on the side wall. They had tracked the file back to a computer in the league of assassins, but that was as far as they got on that front. They did not know who sent it or why.

“’Behind the spears and down the stairs’. Think they’re holding him there?”

Bruce looked over but did not give any reply. There was nothing to say. They would have to go there and find out. They would go there and find him.

After a while the bat turned on his mic. “Target sighted. Decreasing speed and height.”

Over their comms they heard Wonder Woman’s voice: “Acknowledged. We’re moving in as well.”

And with that, they made their decent.

\---

Guns, arrows, swords, fists, batarangs and lasers.

The compound had turned into a battlefield. The league of assassins had many powerful warriors atop the trained assassins, and they posed as a challenge to the justice leaguers.

Servants were fleeing to boats and cellars, making it even more chaotic for the heroes. Diana scoffed as she saw a wounded woman drag a child in assassins gear away with them. There was just no saving the al-Ghul now, not only had he taken a teenage Robin, but also liked to make more child soldiers.

Batman also noticed some of the children running. One seemed to be no older than five as a servant carried her away.

“Talia.” He addressed the woman that appeared beside him.

“Hello, beloved. It is so rear for you to visit these days.” She readied her two swords as she calmly approached him. Venomous green eyes drinking the dark figure in.

Batman however did not care for her chatting. “Where is he?!”

The assassin narrowed her eyes and her pretense of relaxation vanished from her posture. “Who might you be talking about?”

“Quit the crap, Talia! Where is he?! WHERE IS JASON?!!” he roared as he sprung towards her. She dodged his fist and he in turn used his gloves to block the sword he didn’t step away from. They entered into a dance they both knew, but this was not one of their playful tales of trained fighting. This was an angered bat against the daughter of the demon. And soon he kicked her hard into a stone wall.

“How can he be here?” he stood over her with clenched fists.

A bloody smirk painted her lips. “That’s what we are wondering.”

Bruce clenched his jaw before continuing: “What do you mean? You put him in the pit. You were the ones to bring him back from the grave!”

Mixture of cackling and huffing came from the woman. “No, my beloved. In this you are wrong. I did indeed find him, but he had already been dug out of the grave. Half alive with no memories I took him in to fix him.”

The bat grabbed her by the front of her uniform and growled: “What?”

“What do you mean?” Nighwing came up from behind. He approached halfway to hear their conversation and halfway to make sure Bruce kept himself in check.

Talia looked to the younger man. “Just as I said. I met him when he was nothing more than a zombie. We have no idea how he awoke, and he was in no state to tell us. We had nothing to do with getting the body out of the grave, we only returned his ability to think and be a human.”

“Pretty words. Why didn’t you contact us? We’re his family.”

“I doubt you would approve of our methods. And then he wouldn’t be out and about right now, much less reading and talking.” She said, turning back to the bat in the middle.

“That is not your choice to make!” Batman growled.

Then Flash was suddenly behind them. Taking in the scene he ran into he turned uncertain about saying anything, but had already promised to repport once he'd had a onceover of the place. “Uhm. I found three weapon rooms, only one of them had spears?” he raised his tone at the end, making it sound like a question.

The dark knight looked over his shoulder to his companion. “Where?”

“Over there.” The speedster pointed before zooming to wait for the bat in front of an open door. The man let go of Talia’s suit, making her fall to her knees, and strode over, Nightwing on his heels.

\---

Flash had no idea where the door had come from. The bats had walked over to the spears by the wall and Flash had been on the lookout for ninjas.

He swears his life was normal once. Once he would even find fighting ninjas being an awesome dream. Now he had to do a double take over every shadow.

He looked down the hallway when he heard the creak from behind and suddenly the wall in there had an open door in it.

He glanced down the hallway one more time before following the two men clad in black.

The stairs of grey stone were narrow and dimly lit. The way down seemed to be taking a century for the speedster that were debating trying to vibrate through the two in front of him before smacking away the idea. No one in their right mind would dare vibrate through the bat. That was one level of insanity not even Gotham seemed to reach.

“B, look.”

Flash followed Nightwing’s finger. He was just stepping off the stairs and looked to the wall of the dungeon they were now in. There, at about the height of his knees, was the drawing of a small bird, a robin, in what looked like chalk. The bird seemed to be flying to the left, and Batman turned on his heels and walked that way.

“Someone really want us to find him here.” Nightwing said in a quiet voice.

“Isn’t it good that someone’s helping us out?” Flash tried to keep his voice just as quiet, but knew he got a little more energy in it.

Batman glanced over his shoulder as he kept walking in the front. “If it is to help us.”

They were entering a hallway with cells on either side. Four to the left and four to the right.

“B, up to the right.”

Furthest in in the hallway, behind bars, the end of a cot was visible from where the three were standing.

The bat strode quickly yet quietly up the hallway, past the three cells before and stopped tense in front of iron bars. Nighwing half a step behind and the Flash ran quickly back to the stairs, checking if anyone were joining them before standing beside the two.

From behind the bars, two sharp turquoise eyes glared at the three figures. Clad in the classic assassins’ garb, save anything obscuring his face, a teen sat on the cot close to the wall. He held a book resting on his lap and there was a noticeable sword leaning on the wall.

Nightwing took a step closer, grabbing one of the bars and holding on to it loosely. No one said anything. They were just staring at each other, bat and birds.

Flash could feel the silence fill the hallway and an unfamiliar atmosphere were spreading out. He had seen the bats have entire conversations only with their eyes, but this was no batglare met with defying eyes. There was no conversation in those eyes, only emotions that none of the others fully read.

“Gray…son…” The horse whisper was startling, for so many reasons. The speedster never would have imagined such a young man, a young teenager would sound like that. So exasperated and tired with existence itself.

The teen seemed to both be questioning, wondering, understanding and in denial, all in his one statement of the name. It was like a question and an answer.

“Hey there, little wing.” Nightwing’s voice was soft and a sad smile painted his lips.

They didn’t say anything else. Only looked.

Batman stepped to the side and reach for the door, only to find it already unlocked. He opened it up and reached out his hand: “Come home, Jaylad.”

The teen only looked at the hand for a while and Flash felt it took an eternity whilst also anticipating every second.

After a few seconds Jason stood up and turned his full body to the man. He took a step forward but hesitated to take any more. “Where is… Damian?”

The speedster cocked his head. He was pretty sure he didn’t know any bat or hero with that name. He was betting on it being someone with the ninjas then.

Apparently, the bat didn’t know who the teen was talking about either: “Who is Damian?”

Jason stared at the vigilante, trying to find his words. He seemed hesitant, but not nervous.

“My teacher.”

Batman remembered one of the photos he had gotten showed Jason being tortured and immediately clenched the fist still by his side. “You do not need to meet with him anymore.”

The teen snapped at that, eyes widened and he took half a step back.

Nightwing, seeing this, went to intervene. “Is he a good teacher?”

The teen looked to his brother. His brother. He had a living brother that existed. Jason had been partly convinced that his brain had made up some dysfunctional family to cope with the pain he was often put in.

But here they were. The only ones he had had other than Damian. His way more than a good teacher.

Jason met his brother’s eyes and gave a steady nod.

Dick gave an understanding one back. “Does he want you to be safe?”

The teen nodded again.

“Then come with us. The justice league are here fighting, as I am sure you can hear. We also want you to be safe. More than anything we want you. We want you in our lives. So please, come.”

Jason looked back to the bat. To his dad. He let a few seconds pass by before he picked up his sword. With a determined glint in his eye he stepped forwad and to the offered hand.


	2. Green waters

Tim sat with his legs crossed, making himself close to comfortable in the chair before the big computer in the cave. Due to the situation, Alfred had let him stay up longer.

In his lap was his old photo album. The one with his shots of the earlier dynamic duo. Many of them were grainy in the night or from far away, but they were still precious.

He had admired Robin since the duo was first spotted by the citizens of Gotham. Robin was an idol. An inspiration for any child in the otherwise gritty city. A hero even villains could respect.

Tim would spend late nights following the vigilantes with his camera. He followed their adventures and saw how they protected the city. He was also quick to pick up on there being two Robins. Or rather one Robin and one who used to be a Robin.

But all too soon it was back to only one Robin. Which meant there were no Robins. One quit, and one passed away.

The city was without its duo.

The children without their idol.

The bat without his Robin.

Batman still went out in the night, beating the dark grime away. But no matter how much he fought the light never seemed to return to the city like it used to. Shadow would threaten Gotham, the bat would scare it away, and light would be brought back by the chirp of a boy.

But there was no chirp. Not anymore.

Tim traced an old photo of the laughing boy on a rooftop. It was of the one time he had been spotted, but the bird never tweeted a word of it, only grinning and posing for the next picture before running off.

“I never learned how to spread the light like you. I can’t make the witty remarks or jokes on the field… I wonder- if you really are back that is…” the words withered and disappeared into the deep cave as the boy trailed off.

He closed the book and uncrossed his legs. Pushing himself forward he reached for the keyboard and pulled up one of the pictures. It was one of a smaller cave with a green glowing pool in it. Dick had told him it could be something called a ‘Lazarus pit’. It was like the legendary fountain of youth, only with dire side effects. ‘The pit madness’ the file on it had read. It brought back life, although only a select few, and the ones who rose up were never quite the same. Some turned murderous and sly while others went just completely mad with rage and tore apart anything or anyone in their reach.

Tim couldn’t imagine the grinning boy from his album ever take someone’s head. He had dreamt of them meeting and becoming friends. Laughing together at the rooftops, Jason driving the bat mad enough with his jokes to plaster a smile on the man’s face.

But if Jason came back, it wasn’t likely to be the same happy boy. Heck, if experience was supposed to be such a great teacher than what would experiencing death do with a person? Let alone a kid only a few years older than him.

Tim pushed himself back in the chair so he could lean to it’s back. He only hoped that Dick and Bruce didn’t expect Jason to be the same. They had already lost him once. And it had broken them once.

\----

The Flash ran past the three and out on the stilling battleground. Most of the fighting was already over. It seemed that there were only some mutant fighters wanting to brawl and refusing to stand down along with the assassins.

Talia was standing close by passively, guarded by four of her men. She glanced over to Gotham's protectors as they approached.

“I see you’ve already had your happy reunion, beloved.”

The bat only gave a short grunt in response. He looked to the courtyard where Wonder Woman beat the last man to the ground, leaving a crater in the ground under the quickly shrinking giant. The mutant went from a story high to five feet as consciousness left him.

“You are not fighting back?” the bat asked without taking his eyes of the gathering justice league.

Talia snorted and placed a hand on her hip. “Why should I? Are you not only here to pick up your son?”

“You are letting me?”

“Can I stop you?”

Bruce glanced to the assassin. She knew him. He had cared for her and let her in. She knew he put family before anything. Family was the reason he became the bat. Family was the reason he fought. Family was what he was willing to give anything to protect.

“No.”

Talia turned to face the three and walked up to the teen. Both Bruce and Dick tensed, but nothing warned them of an attack.

“It displeases me to see you leave before we got to know each other, Jason. I do hope you find your place.”

Jason only stared at her. Giving no response.

Dick however got offended. “He has his place with us.”

Talia gave a smirk and Dick’s worry immediately grew. “You will really accept one like him?”

The young man clenched his fists and raised his voice: “Of course. He is my amazing little brother! He will always have a place with us!”

The assassin rested a hand on Jason’s shoulder as she slightly turned to Dick. “But he has grown so much. He is not so little anymore.”

Bruce stepped up and grabbed Talia’s hand, taking it off his son’s shoulder. “What are you on about?” He growled as he stepped between her and the teen.

His grip on her hand was hard and bruising, but her smirk only grew. “Jason, before you leave could you be a dear and take care of the disobedient trash?”

The bats immediately understood where she was going, but her guards had already dragged the limp five-foot man over. They barely managed to blink, much less act or stop the teen before he had raised his sword.

There was no emotion in Jason’s eyes as he swung the blade. No want, no distaste, no bloodlust. This was nothing to him.

However, behind the cowl of the bat swam so many things. Fear. Darkness. Distaste. Jealousy. Horror.

Too many to be named, but most of all was disturbance. This could not be reality. This was anything but reality. His sweet little prankster splattered crimson on the ground. And he felt nothing.

This was not possible. His amazing kid that was filled with happiness. This was not him. Not ever. This was a clone. A trick to get to him.

A nightmare.

This was not reality.

\----

Talia looked at the still figure of her beloved. She really didn’t want to do this, but she couldn’t afford her plans to be spoiled now. Besides, he would have to know eventually, and she only ripped the band aid off for him before anything could get worse.

But really, why were they here? Talia had been so careful. There should be no trace leading to her, even if the bat found the teen’s grave empty. Any of her assassins or employees had to be thoroughly checked before being allowed in the same building as her new puppet. There should be no leaks, yet the vigilante came searching for him. He knew Jason was alive and there.

Hell, he even knew where in the compound the teen was. Talia didn’t know that! Jason had disappeared after Damian went to pick him up after breakfast. The assassin did find that suspicious and guessed that maybe one of her son’s guards were not as loyal as she thought.

Shit. She had sent the same guards with Damian to get him safely off the island. Distracted by the heroes, she hadn’t even checked what they’d brought or even if they left in the right direction. That must have been their plan all along. They must be the ones to tell her beloved where his adopted wreck was.

She couldn’t stay there, her best tool against the bat might be in danger by the very ones she sent to protect him.

Jason had started cleaning off his sword. The justice league only stood by watching. Some of them seemed almost as stricken by the teen’s action as the bat. Some of them seemed more vary or worried for the bat, the vigilante that had taken his no-murder rule more serious and to hearth than anyone.

The bat eventually snapped out of his stupor, and with all his fury grabbed the front of Talia’s suit and hauled her inches from his raging face.

“What have you done?!”

The assassin flinched at the growling man but held her gaze steady.

“I have taken care of him. I have taken away his wild rage and bloodlust, replacing it with indifference. He is not fully rehabilitated, no one truly walks off death after all. When his mind is fully repaired, he will be able to choose his path undisturbed of the madness the pit brings. If you truly want him back, you will have to accept every side of him.”

She didn’t have time for this. She needed to find her son.

With a small blade she had hidden literally up her sleeve, she flicked his hand away. She stepped back, away from the two vigilantes. Batman was still seething, but Nightwing seemed to have no will to fight.

The younger man just tenderly walked up to the teen and put his hand on his overarm. Dick whispered, asking if his brother was alright, but Talia really couldn’t care too much about it.

“My apologies, but I am afraid I will have to take my leave early, beloved. I have to go see to my employees that you scared away.” She scoffed as she turned on her heels. But before she could take a step, a hand grabbed her wrist.

“We both know you don’t care for anyone enough for that.” The bat growled.

Talia, irritated, glared over her shoulder with sharp, venomous eyes. “I am afraid that has changed, darling. There is one I do care for.”

She yanked her had away but before storming off, caught Jason’s gaze. He had snapped up as he understood who she was talking about and she knew he wouldn’t let it go. One thing she hadn’t managed to beat out of him was his stubborn will.

“Dami... Where is Damian?” What started as a horse whisper rose to an almost normal talking volume, which was impressive for the teen that rarely used his voice for other than screaming. She supposed that was her toddler’s work showing.

The assassin let out at huff, knowing he would follow her and may even start raging if she didn’t answer. “I sent him away when the attack started. However, I am now doubting the guards I sent with him as they seem to have something to do with the leak of information that brought the heroes here in the first place.”

The bats could hear their companions behind them ask for who this ‘Damian’ was. Flash made an attempt to explain: “Robi-Jason said he was his teacher, but like a good one. When Nighwing asked he said that this man, whoever he is, would care about him, but I don’t think batsy believes it considering the entire league of assassins thing and, you know, the one pic he shared of the kid getting uh… restrained and hurt by assassins. You know, the one he said was standard training or what here.”

The gothamites might not seem to care much for this, but it rested the assassin's mind. 'Good. They do not know who he is.' She knew the risk of letting Jason go with them. But just by looking over at his face as he was restless and worried for the toddler she got ideas for other plans as Damian's identity got revealed early.

Talia knew Jason had grown attached to her kid, but the glint in his eye told it was way stronger than she’d thought. This could be good, she could use it, but not now.

The teen immediately stepped forward, towards the direction of the docs, but even if his show of affection almost warmed her cold hearth, the assassin held out a hand to stop him. “No. You need to get your father to understand that you’re not only not on the same page, but that he needs to open an entirely other book. I will get Damian.”

Jason paused, but he didn’t turn or back off.

Talia sighed. Still, she didn’t just push the stubborn oak off: “I will let you know once I’ve found him.”

She then turned to shortly face Bruce one last time: “Be proud, beloved. It seems even the pit didn’t manage to rip away his determination to help others.”

Thankfully, this time she wasn’t stopped. Walking briskly, she headed for the docks knowing she’d left chaos in her wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise to finaly add fluff in the next chapter. Oh. And Tim will be a bigger deal in this than I first planned cause... Tim. Can't help but lovin him.


	3. Bound down

Tim looked down from his perch at the new occupant of the cave. Tall and broad, the once bubbly kid looked impassively on his older brother as he showed him around. What’s new and old (avoiding a case with a certain uniform in it).

Dick tried to ignite a conversation at every new thing he pointed to. “Remember this-“ “Did you know-“ “What do you think-“ but he never seemed to expect an answer and didn’t deter when he didn’t get one.

Jason let his gaze follow to every new thing Dick presented and after a few minutes he even asked about one himself which made the older light up like a Christmas three. From then Dick grinned even wider and chattered away, listening for the few words Jason put in.

“Young master Timothy, would it not be better to go down there and join them?”

He hadn’t heard the butler approach from where he was hiding in the shadows, but neither was he surprised. The elderly was as much of a ninja as batman himself, and by this point Tim just expected that the man could be anywhere at any time.

Tim still looked down at the two brothers as he let worry show on his face. “Would it really be better, Alfie?”

The man stepped closer and gently rested a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

“Should I tell him about you before you are introduced then? Somehow I doubt master Bruce remembered.”

Tim let a small smile grow on his face as he looked up to the butler, who he thought about as a grandfather, and let himself relax into his touch. “Thanks, Alfie. I would like that.”

\---

Left with a small plate of fresh cookies, Tim retreated to his room. Alfred went to help Jason settle and Bruce left as soon as he had dropped Dick and the teen off.

He had passed like a storm. Tim had wanted to wait for the bat to be left alone, which took nowhere as long as the kid had thought. He entered the cave with the two brothers, his two eldest sons, and immediately powerwalked out on them to change utilitybelt. Tim didn’t need to wait at all, but he still didn’t get to ask Bruce as he just came and went. Not letting the kid get a word in.

Something had clearly set the man off and sent him deep into his shell of professional vigilantism. However as much as the kid wanted answers, he knew that now was not the time.

Maybe if he could find Dick alone sometime, he could ask him.

Tim picked up a cookie as he sat down before his desk.

The desk was littered with papers, strings, paper cuttings and photos. It was both from cases and school, both of his lives on one surface. And on the very top of it all were five pictures. The kid nibbled on his snack as he picked up a picture with Jason in it.

It was the worst of them. You couldn’t see the teen’s face clear on it, but his entire body screamed of pain. Back arching of what looked like a thick wooden table, his limbs were twisted in different angles, against their restrains as it looked like the young man wanted to rip them off and away from anything and everything.

Tim knew photos. He had been taken pictures for years himself. And he saw all the raw emotion that was captured in this one moment. The kid would almost admire it had it not been so sickening.

He put down his cookie, not even getting halfway through it, and let the printed picture slip from his fingers.

Tim could only hope that Jason would at least get a good night sleep in a soft bed now that he wasn’t there anymore. He was here. He was home.

\---

Alfred led the two young men up the stairs in the mansion. Dick had been talking happily none stop, asking the butler for his input or even gotten a short nod from Jason in between. The teen looked at them and the surroundings with curious and exited eyes that warmed the old man’s hearth.

“I have prepared your old bedroom, master Jason. You should be familiar with its layout as we have referred from touching much.” The gray man said as he opened the wooden door and stood to the side for the teen to pass.

Jason took silent steps as he wearily entered the room. It really hadn’t changed. Except for the new bedding that Alfred put on earlier, it was all the same. Like he had only left yesterday.

Dick and Alfred took in the still figure in front of them, neither saying anything. The butler stepped forward to ask if everything was in order but lost his voice when he saw the teen’s face.

Jason’s eyes were glowing green. Soon he caught his breath in a big heave and started taking more shaking breaths.

Dick immediately went to comfort him, but as soon as his palm touched Jason’s back the teen snapped and threw himself around and in one swift move had kicked his brother to the wall and jumped to the other side of the room.

Alfred put his hands up in a pacifying manner, glancing briefly at Dick before letting his eyes rest at Jason’s figure. The teen seeming like a trapped animal. Wild, scared and desperate. It hurt to see him like that.

The three figures kept still in the room. The butler carefully treaded over to Dick and gave him a once-over as they gave Jason time to catch his breath. 

A few minutes later and the teen had collected himself enough to straighten up. And Dick felt it was good enough to approach again. He made his movements obvious and wearily reach out his hands before gently grabbing Jason’s upper arms.

He tried to meet his eyes, but the teen incisively kept his gaze low. 

“You back with us, little wing?”

Jason took another shaking breath before nodding, his eyes back to his soft, yet sharp, turquoise.

Alfred also stepped forward but kept to the side to not crowd the youngest. Slowly he put his hand on Jason’s back and Dick let go so the butler could guide the teen out.

“Maybe another room would be more suitable for the first night.”

The teen let himself be guided to another room without any response, only looking down. Letting strands of his hair fall to partly hide his frown.

“Not to seem rude, young master, but you do look terrible. Why don’t you sit down while I get your bedding and some light night-snack?”

He led the silent Jason to the one chair by the desk in the new room. Dick stood by his side as he sat down, resting a hand on his shoulder as the teen leaned back and squeezed while looking gently at his brother.

He looked up to the butler and answered for them: “Thanks Alfred. That would be nice.”

The gray-haired man quickly dressed the bed before leaving for the kitchen. There he found a tray and filled it with a plate with cookies, two glasses of water and two cups with hot chocolate.

Walking back up the stairs he made his steps silent. Soft sobs could be heard ringing out to the corridor. And when he was on the top he could see the head of Tim peaking out of his room.

The butler walked up and ran his glowed hand through the kid’s hair. Wide eyes looked up at the elderly man.

“I haven’t mentioned you yet, but do you wish to come with?”

Tim’s expression got a nervous twinge as his lips formed into a thin line. His gaze dropped as he took a moment to think before slowly shaking his head.

“Very well young master. How about you try to get some sleep and we’ll see what happens in the morning?”

The kid looked back up and gave a curt nod. Eyes still big and wide. The butler gave him a soft smile before crouching down and sweeping him into a warm side-hug.

“Do you wish for me to tuck you in?”

Tim looked back down the corridor. “It’s fine.” His already small voice lowered “You should go to them.”

Alfred treaded his fingers back in the boy’s soft hair. “I will always have a moment to spear for you. Why don’t you get ready while I set this down.” He said motioning to his tray.

The kid looked up again, eyes wet now. He took a moment and clenched his fists over his hearth. “Really?”

The butler nodded with a smile. “Of course. Always. Now get in bed, it’s almost getting early.” The man joked, putting a thin smile on the still sad-looking kid.

Tim nodded and turned for his bed, trotting gently over. Alfred went to his desk and moved some papers aside to put down his tray. The butler quickly noticed the five photos and lifted the closest one up. The one showing Jason tied down and tortured.

“Do you think he will be happy now?” The soft words were said halfway into the duvet.

The gray-haired man turned around to look at the kid. The kid that was so much wiser than his years.

“In time he will settle, but he will need support and patience.” The butler looked to the photo again as he put it down. “And I suppose you have already decided to help watch over him?”

The boy still looked down, covers raised up to his nose as he sat in bed. “I don’t want to intrude.”

Alfred walked over and took the covers from the kid’s weak grip. Tim laid down and let the butler pull the covers so they rested under his chin. “I am certain that your help will be appreciated, if not right now, then in the future. You’ll never know how much you could have helped if you don’t even try.”

Another smile pulled on Tim’s lips. “Miss all the shots you don’t take?”

The older man mirrored the smile. “Indeed. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow is a new day.”

“Is past midnight. Today is a new day.” The kid barely managed to say before letting out a soft yawn.

Alfred’s smile only grew. “That it is. Now why don’t you start it with some good rest?”

“Mmhm.” Was softly let out as the boy’s eyes had already fell shut and refused to open again.

“Sweet dreams, Timothy.”

The butler brushed soft bangs back before he left the sleeping figure. Silently walking to pick up his tray, only letting gentle breathing fill the room.

\----

Standing outside the wooden door, the butler had long noticed that the sobbing was gone as he opened it.

There on the bed laid two figures. Jason on his back and Dick draped over him. The covers forgotten as they were halfway pushed to the floor.

He made sure their breaths were even before he silently walked over and set the two glasses of water by the bedside. Putting the tray then on the desk, he went back to tuck the covers over the two.

However, once he had lifted the covers close to them Jason’s eyes shot up and his body went rigid.

The sharp eyes cut into the old man. Startling as it was, Alfred was no stranger to abrupt or scared reactions. The butler was quick to erase the surprise from his face and turned his own gaze gentle.

The teen caught on to the situation and let his body rest. When his eyes softened as well, the gray-haired man continued to drape the covers over the two, tucking them in. Deeming the task done he gently turned on his heels.

The low husky whisper stopped the man as he went back for his tray. “Thank you… Alfie.”

Said man looked back, crackling wrinkles showing beside his smiling eyes. “I am truly glad to have you back, master Jason.”

The teen let a smile paint his face as he blinked his eyes shut. “Thank… Night-“

“Good night, young master. Sweet dreams.”

The butler silently left the room and closed the door behind him. Outside in the hallway, he stood still. One hand hanging loose by his side and one holding the tray.

There, alone and in silence, he let a single tear escape his eye before he lifted a gloved hand to wipe it away. 

\-----

(Infinity island- hours earlier:

Talia strode with quick steps over to the docs. Glancing left and right at anyone they passed as they all lowered their heads at seeing her.

She approached the wide empty berth. Ropes laid tousled on the pier. Somebody clearly hadn’t the time to do anything more than undock the boat and drop the ropes wherever they would land.

Walking up to one of the guards there she abruptly stopped when she heard a weak groan. Looking to her left, it seemed to have come from behind some crates.

Her personal guards also picked up the sound and two of the four went to check it out. Whatever they found, they deemed safe and stepped aside for the daughter of the demon to approach.

Stepping around the crates she saw four figures. Three of them laid limp in a heap and one while one tried to push one of them off him as he supported himself on his elbows. As he spotted her, he immediately tried to lower his head from his position.

Talia walked forward and stepped hard on his hand. The man stifled a groan and kept his head low.

“Where is he?” the cold voice plummeted over him as he felt a shiver down his spine.

“I am sorry, mistress. I do not know where he is.” The servant tried hard not to whimper.

She lifted her foot and sidestepped to lean against one of the crates. “Report.”

The man, still looking down, started recounting what happened: “We had just started loading the boat when the young lord mentioned seeing someone suspicious hiding behind the crates. Hiding here. So these two-” he motioned for the still unconscious men lying under him, at the bottom of the human pile “-went to look. They went out of sight, and never came back. They didn’t respond to our calling either so we went over, leaving the lord on the boat. That’s when we saw them laying there. I crouched down to check their pulses when a gas-bomb detonated. Whatever was in it knocked me out in under two seconds.”

Talia scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “So you left the heir of the demon unattended when he warned you of danger?”

The man felt another shiver. “I am sorry, mistress. We have failed you.”

Sharp, venomous eyes bored into him. “That you have.”

Without any verbal order, one of her own guards stepped forward and unsheathed a toothed sword, no longer than his arm, and lifted it high so the setting sun was caught on the blade.

Crimson was spluttered on the ground.

Talia straightened up and turned to face the ocean waves. Without turning to any of then, she addressed her guards: “Interrogate them when they wake up. Anything of use, you bring to me.”

“As you wish.” The two staying bowed low as their leader strode of, the remaining two guarding her six.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...honestly, I have no idea how to get Bruce to get his stuff together and be a good dad


	4. Tranquil pages

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long, but the mess that is chapter 4 is finally up!
> 
> I don't think I'll explain it in the story so I'll put it here: Damian made Jason read a book called "Wolfie the bunny" that's supposed to teach children about accepting an adopted sibling. I reference it in this chaper so it might help knowing about it to understand Jason's reaction.

It had been two days since Jason arrived at the manor. Two days in which his older brother barely let him alone. Two days in and he had only seen the shadow of his dad as he retreated into the night before anyone could question him. Two days he had spent mostly adjusting.

He woke up on a soft bed, in a warm and decorated room. He navigated the manor and surroundings. He talked, or listened mostly, to Alfred and his brother. He ate breakfast that actually tasted something, tasted good. All a little surreal and sometimes unsettling surprising.

On the first day he stormed out of the dining room two times. First in the morning when the taste of homemade bread dumped his mind with forgotten memories. The world came to a sudden halt for the teen and he felt the familiar rage start bubbling up from deep down. Standing up suddenly, knocking his chair over, trying to control his breathing, he rushed out of the room as it started clawing itself up. Leaving behind a concerned butler and brother that had promptly shut up as he saw the green flicker I Jason’s eyes.

Jason had then locked himself in his room for an hour before letting Dick in, and the two stayed there until Alfred convinced them that dinner was necessary.

It was during this that he stormed off the second time. His brother had gone on about an undercover mission when the butler changed the subject. He apparently wanted to tell Jason about a kid.

There was a kid.

There was a new kid in the house.

There was a new kid replacing Jason.

He blanked out for a second. Seeing the butler lips move, but not listening. He had been replaced. His family had just found a new kid once he’d gone and tossed him aside.

The clawing feeling of raising rage was back. He had missed it as it started and hadn’t even time to get ahold of his breathing.

If they had found him abrupt in the morning, he was lightning now. Up of his chair and out the door in a second. Even if he passed some soft black hair, he hadn’t eyes for anything other than the stairs as he only sped up fueled by emotions.

Again, Dick was soon at his door, but he had to sit outside for another two hours this time before Jason opened it.

\----

The next day Jason was reintroduced to the library. A room with floor to ceiling filled with book upon book. The walls were decorated with them, only broken by the door and windows.

Jason took a deep breath as he entered and looked around. His eyes swam over the different covers that protruded from the shelfs. Calm rainbows of leather and paper enveloped the room in a tranquil atmosphere.

“We’ve gotten a few new ones I think you’ll like. I haven’t really read them myself, but Alfie recommended some on the left there.”

Dick passed him as he let his fingers glide over a leather-bound back. For once snippets of memories slipped peacefully into his mind. Both good and bad parts. There was no green anger as he looked over the titles that faced him.

One book caught his attention. The cover was unfamiliar, but the title he remebered. He slipped the book out of the shelf and held with both hands.

“Here. Alfie said it was some real-life crime made mystery-novel. Hm? Watcha got there?”

Jason held the book a little higher, facing his brother. A gradient blue decorated with a white exotic pattern under dark blue letters.

“’Thousand and one nights’? Huh. I know I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never actually read it. Isn’t that the one Aladdin is from?”

The teen nodded and opened the book on the first page. Flipping past a few to find the introduction. He angled it so his brother could also read the titles of the stories.

“Oh, so it’s like a collection of fairytales. Have you read it?”

The teen nodded again and opened his mouth before closing it again. Dick gave him his moment and continued to look over the opened page. He was on his third readthrough when his younger brother opened his mouth again.

“I read it with Damian. He started reading for me… I soon followed along, sitting with him as he read out loud.”

Dick looked over to his brother’s face. Turquoise eyes locked on the paper and a small pull at the corner of his lips.

“Sounds nice. Did you read together often?”

Another nod as the teen closed the book and looked over the front cover again. “We read every evening. One time I… training stopped early, before my task was finished… so that I would not keep Damian waiting… We met after training, in a private room.”

Dick straightened up at that. Something about the assassins letting Jason off training for reading didn’t seem right. “Wait. You met every day for reading one book?

The teen started on a nod before stopping himself. “…no. We met every day. Routine. But, we read more than one book. This was the first one. The one that started it. We read one story… every evening.”

Dick pretended to be interested in some of the other books at the shelf in front of them. “Hm. One story every evening. Were they all fairytales?”

Jason also looked up from the blue book and to the shelf. “Others too. He chose different… one was a wolf raised by bunnies… children’s book. The last one was… the sign of four.”

The teen tilted his head in contemplation and the older man gave him a minute to think before he asked: “’The sign of four’ is a Sherlock Holmes book, right?”

Jason snapped out of his musing and looked to his brother. He gave a short nod before looking back down at the blue book in his grasp. “We read one to two chapters a day… it was the last one… before you came.”

The teen took another break of silence and put the book back in its place. Dick let the silence linger for a minute before continuing in a cheerful tone, wondering if they had said book here. “So, I guess our surprise visit kept you from finishing the mystery?”

Jason slowly shook his head. “No, we did. That’s just it…”

It was now Dick’s turn to tilt his head, looking to his brother. “What do you mean?”

The teen thought it over in his head once before opening his mouth. “We read only one chapter a day… two once when we finished fast and had time for another one. But… the evening before you came… three days ago, Damian insisted we finish. We took longer than normal… others got impatient, but Dami said he wanted to finish. I thought he was just… exited and absorbed in the story, but…”

“But now you think he knew that you would be leaving.” Dick finished for him and Jason nodded.

The man brought a hand to his chin as he thought. “Talia said she suspected Damian’s guards to be the ones that leaked the pictures…”

Jason nodded again and pulled another book out from the shelf. “I thought… I wanted to read, finish the book. I was… exited. I thought he… too.”

Dick laid his hand on Jason’s shoulder. Soft eyes peered into the young yet torn face and his stomach felt like curling in on itself.

“Sorry little wing. I know you must have spent many good moments with him, but the league doesn’t let people in that can’t fight or manipulate others. He used you for-”

However, instead of comforting, Jason immediately snapped at that. Slapping his brother’s hand away and stepping back he became fanatical. “No. No! Dami is good. Dami… Dami always care. Dami knew, he wanted us to finish. Nothing left unfinished. He must. He must have wanted both of us to get away.”

Dick held his hands up, wanting to calm his brother. “Hey, you’re the one who knows him. I am sure you’ve done a good evaluation of him, but I just want you to consider the possibility.”

Jason didn’t want to consider it. So instead he tried to read the title of the new book in his hand as loud as possible in his own head to drown out his thoughts. He opened the book, and continued loudly reading to himself, only halfway getting what the story was about.

\----

Tim didn’t like school lately. Homework was unnecessary and a waste of time, the tests were boringly easy and the snobs in his ‘prestigious’ class mostly saw him for his money. He especially didn’t like schools’ universal production of bullies.

However, today he was all too happy for bullying in hallways. He was almost so grateful to the overweight douche that he wouldn’t call a teacher on him. Almost. He’d still found one of the stricter teachers close by and the bully had soon gotten detention for the rest of the week.

Timmy opened the doors to the school and leaped over the stairs to jog towards the gates.

The issue that had sparked the bullying had been stupid. The kids had to draw each other for class and the bully had not been pleased with the noticeable double chin of the victim’s portrait.

“The fuck you on about, midget? You’re just a little bug that can’t even stand tall enough to see my face! You tryna’ make me look fat and your excuse is it how you see shit from your dwarf-perspective?!”

And as the taller kid’s fist had connected with the smallest’ nose it had hit Tim. Perspective! Perspective says a lot about a picture. How had he not noticed it before?

He went up to the car waiting for him, greeted Alfred and thought about what new he could pic out from the pictures. He had known there was something about them and felt like he would finally learn what.

\----

Dick and Jason had sat quietly reading when Tim burst into the library: “Was there someone really short in the league or someone who often laid down?!”

The two older boys looked up from their books at the racket. They took the kid in for a second before looking to each other.

“I think he’s asking you.” The older man said pointedly to Jason.

The teen looked back to Tim and only stared at him for a moment. The silence had long ebbed itself in the room when he finally opened his mouth: “Wolfie”

Puzzled, the kid looked to the eldest brother. However, Dick knew just as little as him and could only shake his head with a confused expression.

Silence crept up on them once again and Dick found himself responsible for breaking it. “Maybe you should explain yourself first, Timmy? Why are you asking about someone laying down in the league?”

Tim’s cheeks got dusted pink as he got embarrassed for his entrance. “Oh, uh, yeah. Well, you see, it’s the pictures.” The kid started as he fumbled to get a photo from his pocket and held it up for the two sitting. “The pictures have a certain angle to them. They’re mostly showing an upward angle as they are taken from very low.”

The picture Tim showed was the best he could find. It showed Jason in assassin’s garb, sitting on the floor in front of a low table reading a small brown book. The youngest had chosen this as he hoped it was least likely to trigger anything bad from the teen.

Dick leaned forward in his seat to get a closer look. “So you think they’re taken by the same person laying down?”

Tim tilted his head. “Uh, actually I am leaning more towards the person being really short. Like, shorter than me. I don’t know, but I just don’t see them letting their members lay on their backs and take pictures that often. And unless someone had a camera hanging under their knee, I’m guessing it’s likely that it was someone not to tall taking them in secret.”

Dick brought a hand to his chin: “We could always hope. Pretty sure it would be easier to find the girl or guy then, considering most of the members in the league are around my height.”

Tim nodded and looked over to Jason. The teen had been quietly staring at the picture, which wasn’t unusual as he hadn’t shown himself to be too chirpy. But the younger kid could see the mind working behind the sharp eyes and waited for the teen to say something. Anything.

He could hear his hearth pumping in his chest and- oh god. What if he himself triggers Jason. Alfred had told him about the elder’s frantic escape just from hearing about a kid existing in the manor. This was bad. He shouldn’t even have come here, let alone talked to the teen. He should have just told Alfred to ask about it for him. Now the older would get a panic attack, involuntary lash out in blind anger, and it would all be on Tim.

A minute passed and Jason seemed to have found the words to speak: “Damian.”

Tim snapped his head up and looked at the teen. His eyes still had their blue tinge and he seemed focused on the picture.

Dick had also turned to the brother and asked: “Your teacher took these?”

Jason gave a short nod. “He was the only one there… except his stuck-up guards. But the angle, so close, it’s him.”

Dick tilted his head. “Your teacher spent a lot of time on the floor?”

Surprised eyes scanned his older brother. “No? He… short.”

Tim tried to hide the little excitement he felt at that. He had been called ‘short-stack’ or ‘Hobbit’ a few times too many in his Robin suit. To think that the league of assassins had a good point as being accepting was not something he was about to admit to anyone.

Instead he continued with a question: “So your teacher is a man shorter than me?”

Jason calmly shook his head. “Not man.”

The kid raised an eyebrow. “Then a woman named Damian? Or are they perhaps nonbinary?”

Jason shook again and Dick followed his instinct that he hoped was wrong: “Then a kid? There were a few child soldiers on the island. A few too many.” He mumbled the last part but the other still heard.

The teen nodded and Tim was once again surprised. “Wait, a kid is a teacher in the league? Like, a kid my age?” he said as he pointed to himself.

Jason looked at him, expression ever impassive. He seemed to scan him from top to bottom before opening his mouth: “Who are you?”

Oh. Tim took a step back. He had completely forgotten. “Oh. Um, sorry. I’m Tim. Timothy Drake. Uh, I live here?” his tone raised at the end, making it sound like a question.

Nervously he started fidgeting with the photo in his hands. Jason continued to eye him without showing any emotion on his face.

The kid was about to excuse himself when the raspy voice stopped him. “Jason.”

The teen was still impassive but considering who the kid lived with he could still see that there was no hostility in his eyes. A smile tugged on his lips. “Nice to meet you, Jason.”

The teen reached out his hand and Tim scrambled to reach for it. With both hands. Still holding the picture in them.

Pink dusted his cheeks once again. And god. He couldn’t even do a handshake right.

Jason however seemed to take it all in stride and simply received the photo as if it had been meant to be offered.

The teen looked down at the picture again. “There are more of them?”

Tim nodded and Dick grabbed the book Jason had been reading and went to put it and his own back in their places.

“…show me.”


	5. The map already there

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!
> 
> If you're new here; this is the first time chapter 5 has been posted. There has been nothing here before. Enjoy this brand new text.
> 
> If you've read this before; I made some changes to make the story more centered around Jason and him finding his place. Sometimes I've just dragged out the stories I sped past, but I've also added something new. Overall I think you should be fine with the story if you just read the past chapter 5.

Five pictures. The first of a map laying on hardwood floor. The second of an empty cell. The third shows green waters in a cave. The fourth a boy in pain. The fifth is of the same boy at peace with a book.

Jason glances over them one more time before closing the file. It was only a few pages long, but the three boys had gathered all they’d found in this one file.

Apparently, knowing that the “teacher” was only a toddler was what it took for the brothers to start up an investigation on the boy.

It hadn’t started out well. On the first week they only had the pictures and Jason’s statements to go by. Which really wasn’t much.  
“No, little wing. We won’t be able to find him just by knowing that he’s smaller than Timmy and has black hair. There are literally thousands of people fitting that description in this state alone.”

That was three days ago. The teen closed the laptop and left his room. He nodded to Alfred as he passed the butler on his way down to the cave.

He had been worried the gray haired man never took breaks as he was ready with breakfast before anyone else got up whilst still helping out with their night-time activities from the cave and keeping the entire manor clean throughout the day. That was until he found the man sitting back with a cup of tea. “Of course, I have daily tea-time written in my contract, young master Jason.”

Jason could not remember if he had known about that before, but he knew that the image of Alfred with a steaming cup was something almost nostalgic.

Every part of the manor seemed so familiar to him, so common that the few things that didn’t, seemed jarringly out of place. He supposed that was his old memories hidden in his subconscious mind reaching out in protest of what they didn’t recognize. 

He stepped down the last few stairs to the cave and quickly caught on to his two brothers’ conversation as he approached them.

“Come on, Dick. We agreed to this. Just get up her caller-id or- anything!”

“I still don’t like this. We should dig some more on our own first. Find some leverage before we let her know that we are looking for the very kid she’s so obviously trying to hide from us.”

“We have been digging. And we’ve hit wall after wall.”

“I know, but…” the man let the sentence die off.

Jason approached before the silence ebbed on. “Nothing? Good. We’re making this call with or without you. You can only control if in it.”

Dick kept quiet but gave a reluctant nod before Tim took control over the batcomputer and pulled up a new window with a list of names. A click and a five seconds wait later, the image of a woman came on screen.

“Hey, Talia. How are you?” Dick greeted with forced cheer in his voice.

“What is it that you want?”

They hadn’t expected more, but the chilled tone crept into what little mood they had in the cave. Dick still kept his smile on, but mumbled under his breath: “It’s not like I want to see your mug either.” Too low for the mic to pick up.

Trying to ignore his older brother, Jason went to answer: “Damian.”

Talia raised an eyebrow on screen. “You want Damian, or do you want news on him?”

“Both.” Came from the teen without hesitation.

The assassin huffed something that seemed like the beginning of a laugh. “Too bad, you get neither.”

Jason opened his mouth to protest, but the woman only held up her palm. “Not especially because I don’t want to, even thought that is a factor, but also because I can’t. We still do not know where he is or what happened. All I know is that he and the boat he was to escape on were gone by the time I got to the harbor, leaving his four guards unconscious behind.”

The teen pressed his lips together and lowered his gaze from the screen.

Dick looked questioningly to the woman and rested a hand on his hip. “That’s all? So what? You’re saying a toddler drove a boat off on his own after knocking out trained men? I know your league’s training is inhuman at best, but eve-“

“Oh please. Stop trying to get on some moral high ground. He’s a kid, as you clearly have learned, if you think he has the strength to knock out 4 grown, trained warriors then you are even more of an amoeba than I first assumed.”

“Amoeba? How mature.” Dick had by now completely dropped his pretend smile. “And why should we trust anything you say either way? For all we know you’ve already found him and killed him.”

The man almost let a feeling of accomplishment grow in his chest at the woman’s slight flinch before he noticed that she wasn’t the only one looking at him. Another pair of eyes drilled shocked into him.

“There is no point in this conversation if nothing anyone says can be believed anyway.” The man heard Talia said, but didn’t look at the screen. “It was less than pleasant to speak with you again.” She finally said before the line went dead.

Dick only held Jason’s gaze. The teen was still as a statue, Dick couldn’t even see if he was breathing.

He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t feel like he had said anything wrong, but he had clearly cut his brother, so: “Sorry.” he said with a smile, trying to make his eyes as gentle as possible.

And that was exactly wrong. Jason snapped his head away and took a shaky breath. He curled his hands into tight fists and squared his shoulders. He exhaled slowly before going for a controlled breath.

He hated the fakeness. He hated the lies that didn’t belong. He hated how he was held at a distance by masks that said he should keep them close. He knew logically that his family wouldn’t trust him right away, but- he breathed out slowly. Jason strangled down the need to smash his brother’s face against the keyboard and started taking stiff steps towards the stairs.

He knew his feelings were irrational. Even worse, they didn’t seem to diminish the more he was exposed to the behavior. To the people. The teen took a deep breath as he once again left without getting to tell anyone what set him off. Even just breathing was annoying and he knew telling would only gain him pitying looks and awkward moments as no one in this family could properly communicate anyway.

He let out a breath as he silently climbed the stairs. He wondered if he would eventually snap if he continued staying in the mansion.

His brothers only looked on. They had long figured that shutting up was the only thing to do when the green tinge crept into their bother’s eyes.

It most likely wasn’t the best thing to do, but it was all they could. Anything that might help got too close to feelings for them to maneuver, and anything else they had tried only seemed to pull at his violent anger.

They watched him disappear up the stairs and Dick finally felt that he could let out a breath of his own. He leant on the back of the chair and looked to the boy occupying it. Big, worried eyes faced him and he pulled up another smile. “Guess I shouldn’t talk about kids being killed so easily.”

Tim looked back to the screen and reached for the keyboard. He pulled up Talia’s name again and started typing a message, making Dick scoff, but he didn’t say anything. They had all agreed to contact the assassin for information, even if directly talking hadn’t worked. 

\-----

“Maybe you should sit this one out, Jay.” Dick said as he gently took the red helmet from his brother. “This seems to be a big one, and you’ve only been on two patrols since coming back. And that’s me being generous as we had to cut your first one short.”

Jason opened his mouth to protest, but nothing came out. He knew he could take care of himself. He knew that he got the smarts and muscles. But he also knew that he sometimes shut down, and this was a job that required teamwork and constant communication.

The entire Justice league was on deck for this. An alien invasion that had been going on long and steadily under their noses had finally been noticed. Members on the league quickly went to intervene which made the aliens more aggressive. Now even the bats had to deal with the violent intruders and find and deactivate the anchors they had set up around the world.

They set up search parties with both brain and brawns to spread out around the world.

In other words: the fate of earth is dependent on the heroes’ cooperation. And as fast as Jason could kick some alien ass, he was not always in a ‘talking’ mood.

The teen shut his mouth and slumped down in the big computer chair in the cave. He slowly spun it around as he watched the others gear up. Bruce hadn’t even glanced his way, completely opposite of Tim who constantly tried to sneak a peek without being caught.

The black cape flapped as the bat boarded his jet, Robin on his heels. The kid looked back and gave a small wave, receiving Jason’s nod in return. The teen watched the kid settle in his seat before spinning around in his chair again, facing the big computer.

He grabbed a communicator and put it in his ear as he heard the jet taking off. He listened in on the justice league’s channel as he pulled up marked locations on a world map.

“Flash, secure a perimeter around the target.” “Diana, wait for backup before going in.” “For the love of- Guy! Pull up your pants! Can I please get another lantern? Hal? Jon? I know you guys are listening!” “Blue Beatle, what’s your eta?”

Jason let the voices filter through his mind. He was sure some of the leaguers were more childish than Tim, an actual child. Thought that may say more about Tim than them.

Red dots were added to the map. New targets were found and marked. There seemed to be almost three anchors on every continent so far.

Jason leant back in the chair with a sigh. There wasn’t really anything he could do. The league worked themselves in between and covered what they could.

A cup of tea was set down in front of him and he mumbled a thanks to the butler.

He played with the spoon in his tea for a minute before finding even that bothersome and pulled up the file they had on Damian.

2-4 years of age. Male. Valued by the league of shadows. Has not been taught to operate boats.

The list of useless info went on. He could likely get as much progress done on that case as he could get on the ongoing invasion from the oversized chair.

A blinking triangle in the righthand corner of the screen caught the teens attention. He brought the cursor to it and straightened his back. Warning signs were never good in the Batcave, no matter their accompanying noise or size.

Clicking it he found that the computer’s security had picked up a file that someone had attempted to send to it. He quickly had the systems scan it and set up a search for its sender.

After a few minutes of waiting, the mysterious file was cleared as safe to open. Jason wasn’t really in a cautious mood and was most likely hoping a little for something to go wrong so he could at least get something to do.

The file was sadly not some superpowered computer virus. It seemed to be a document containing a bunch of coordinates and other bull- Jason could swear he had just been staring at those numbers. And those listed under them too.

The teen pulled up the map again. Yeah, the coordinates were the same. Even the newly added point was on this strange list.

Jason took another look at the document. It seemed to contain a few more places than the map the league was making. Although not all of them were the same. The list had quite a few that they didn’t while also missing a few points they had.

The first coordinates at the list seemed to be especially important to the sender. It was accompanied by its own paragraph of text. It seemed to be telling of how to get to… a bomb. According to the mystery sender, what was believed to only be anchors for aliens to take over the planet, also had an explosive side.

Jason read through it properly once. It seemed to be hinting at the sender believing that the heroes would find and deal with all but the first of the anchors on the list. One that was deep under water and the sender, ‘R for redemption’ as the document was signed, believed would cause damage to the outskirts of Atlantis and cause a tidal wave to hit some small populated area.

The evidence was weak compared to what was written would happen, but there was just something about it. Why send false information? How did they know the proven coordinates? Why make bats more cautious over these anchors than they already were by claiming they could blow up?

Jason took a chance and copied one of the coordinates and put it onto the map the league was building.

“Superman, there is a new one close to your team. Two cities down.” “On it.” “Wait, who put it in?” “Not me.” “I’m reporting everything I find as I go. Verbally if I might add. So if you haven’t go-” “Please keep it short. If you have time to talk you’ve time to fight.” “You’re just jealous you can’t handle both.” “Superman reporting. We’ve located the anchor at the new destination.” “Good. Proceed with the-”

That was all the teen needed to hear. Another confirmed location. Another pointer to put some trust in this list.

Jason went for his com and opened a direct line.

“Nightwing. Check construction on anchor… We may have new info.”

\-----

Dick staggered up to his brother and flung himself on the floor next to him. “Ugh. That took forever!”

Jason let his fist fall on the punching bag one final time before giving up on any more training. “Took 52 hours 18 minutes.”

The elder groaned but did not move. “Don’t get smart on me.”

Tim, already changed into hoodie and jeans, trotted up to them. “But it really would have taken us much longer hadn’t it been for your help. I honestly don’t think we would have even considered checking near Atlantis. And we would have needed at least an hour extra to figure out the explosive mechanism on them.” The kid sat down next to his eldest brother, legs crossed and hands hidden in the basked they created.

Dick had his eyes closed but raised his hand to give a thumbs up. “Yeah, thanks little wing. Arthur will prob knight you when he gets to it.”

Jason folded his arms and shifted his weight from leg to leg, making the two on the floor quickly catch on to his behavior. The eldest opened one eye and moved his head a little. “What is it?”

The teen looked to the side at nothing in particular. “Could not confirm source.”

Tim leant slightly forward, putting weight on his arms. “Then where did you find it? I could probably help look into it.”

The teen still didn’t look to the two. “Didn’t find. Was sent.”

Dick gave in and opened the other eye as well. “You were sent info, that the league was looking for, by some unknown?”

Jason nodded.

“Just when the league was looking for it?”

Nod again.

“On your private e-mail?”

Shake.

A pause.

“Was it sent directly to the bat-computer?”

Nod.

Dick huffed a breath and Tim untangled his legs, stretching them out for a second before standing up. Jason lead him to the big computer, leaving Dick behind.

“Can’t we just get one short break?”

No one bothered to respond. Tim sat in the chair and followed Jason’s pointing. Bruce was avoiding the mansion again, keeping to the streets and league base, leaving the boys to themselves. And it seemed like this was what they had nonverbally agreed to spend the little that was left of the day on.

\----

“Don’t you think the ‘R for Redemption’ is supposed to be a message or have some meaning to hint at who the sender is? It’s such an arbitrary name to give oneself.”

Jason looked to the kid while still drying his hair from his shower. “Welcome to my room. No need to knock.”

Tim flustered and sprung from where he’d sat on the teen’s bed. “Ah, sorry. I- I’ll go.”

The kid rushed to the door, but a strong hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. He was swiftly turned around and guided back to sit on the bed.

“ ’nother message from them?” The teen questioned as he opened a drawer, rummaging through mostly black socks.

“Yes. It seems it was sent directly to the league this time. Dick went to help out as it seemed to concern Starfire.”

Jason finally settled for a black pair with red stripes. “He finally starting to trust our mystery messenger?”

Tim scoffed. “Unlikely. It is just that “R for Redemption” has had a great track record since the attempted invasion. Besides, you know how he is when his friends slash lovers are concerned.”

Now it was Jason’s time to scoff. “Don’t I ever. Guess it’s just you, me and Alfie home today then.”

There was silence filling the room as the teen finished dressing with an added hoodie and slung the towel on the back of his chair. He sat down on it and opened his laptop as a timid voice broke the silence: “Bruce might come back today.”

Jason turned on the machine and leant back. “Yupp. Doesn’t mean I’ll see more than his shadow.”

The screen lit up and the teen was fast to deny a message about some new upgrade. A window about apartments in Gotham popped up before he opened a new one for his e-mail.

“Do you- … Do you want to see more than his shadow?”

Jason lifted his hands slightly before letting them rest on each side of the computer. He took in a breath before answering: “I’m not sure.”

Silence filled the room again, only disturbed when Jason started pressing keys and scrolling.

“Do you- … Would it be better if…” Tim stumbled over his words as he tried to voice how he wanted to help. “Maybe if Dick tried to talk to him first. Or we could set up like our own version of family-game-night where everyone would have to talk to each other-”

The kid suddenly stopped when a hand was placed on his shoulder. The bed dipped as his brother sat down beside him. “You okey there, Timbo?”

The kid looked up at the teen. “Am I-?! You’re the one… He’s supposed to be your guardian. I know what- I looked to my own dad and-” Tim tried to take a deep shaky breath. “You’ve already been through so much.”

The hand on his shoulder slipped to let the arm wrap around him. The kid was pulled into a broad chest and he lent into the warmth. Clenching his jaw he looked down at the floor.

They sat there in silence, not moving away from the side-hug.

“I’ll be honest with ya, kid. I won’t be this touchy-feely with you again, so you better find another way to handle your daddy issues.”

Tim whipped his head to the teen. “What? I don’t have daddy issues! I am perfectly fine here in this family.”

“This NEW family.” Jason made sure to make the word ‘new’ loud and clear.

The youngest got a confused look on his face. Mimicking how he felt on the inside.

“Family doesn’t happen overnight, kiddo. And as much as you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s clear that you miss your parents. And you also have some major issues, but that may be from a lot of things.”

Tim straightened up and turned his upper body to face the teen. “I don’t-!”

“Hey, I’m not forcing you to talk about anything. Not really a therapist here. I’m just sayin that they will always be your parents, no matter what we turn into. Just look at Dick-head! He’s been living with the ol’ gloom for most of his life, but has never felt like callin him ‘dad’.”

The kid shrunk a little and found a spot on his pants very entertaining to watch. “But they want to be family. Dick may not say it, but he do think of Bruce as his dad. And you have no idea how many times he’s helped me out only to say: ‘it’s what family do’. Bruce too.”

“Yeah, but they’ve been through this before. They know signing papers to make you family doesn’t automatically turn you into one. Sure, they may seem like they wanna hurry you, but if you just tell them to take a step back, they’ll get it.”

The corner of the kid’s lips tugged a little up. “How long have you been rehearsing this speech?”

Jason playfully groaned and moved his hand to ruffle the kid’s hair. His tongue had started to feel heavy in his mouth, but he ignored it and answered: “Long enough for it to be embarrassing. To be fair, you have been bothered with it for a while.”

“Was I that obvious?” Tim asked more to himself, but the teen still answered with a nod and a “Jupp.”

Jason let the hand rest on the kid’s head, even as he stopped messing with the locks. “I know I’m not the representative for speeches or nothing. Hell, this is the most I’ve speeked in forever-”

“Spoken.” Tim corrected him only to get his hair ruffled some more.

“Anywho, if you feel anything wrong, just say it and they’ll back off or get their asses moving. Whatever you want.”

Tim sat leaning into the teen’s side for a while. They both let silence fill the room again for a minute. The kid wanted to retort with telling Jason of how he still needed to get his own family-problems sorted, he was sure that the teen’s situation was way more complicated than his own, but he couldn’t find the words. Jason’s voice may still be a little rough at times and he often just stopped talking in the middle of a sentence, but he knew how to string together words. Tim guessed that all the time he spent in the library and his clear love of books must have something to do with it.

“Maybe, but you know what?” the kid straightened up and pushed himself to stand from the bed. Jason tilted his head, getting his non-verbal question across even if Tim wasn’t looking at him. “You and Dick are still my brothers.”

If that didn’t make a teen’s hearth swell.

Jason opened his mouth, an ‘I do too’ ready, but nothing came out.

Tim still didn’t look back. He had no idea how to continue on, so he didn’t. “It seems like you have gotten a new message.”

The teen turned his head to his still glowing computer. Without a word he stood up and walked to it. He wanted to ask ‘who’, but his tongue had retired for the day.

Good thing they were bats that read bodies as easily as the written language, and Tim stood by his chair as the teen sat quietly down in it. The kid looked over his shoulder to the sender. “Looks like Talia finally is getting back to us.”

Jason huffed a breath as he opened the mail.

They read through it together. A team of scouts had located the boat on a small island on the west coast of Asia, close to Thailand. No toddler or kidnapper in sight.

Tim cocked his head. “Nothing really too informative, but I guess Richard will still feel sorry that he missed something new on the case.”

Jason only nodded. They had already branded Dick as the mother hen of anyone younger as they joked about him behaving like he was even more worried for the kid than Jason that had actually met the toddler.

Jason logged the message and copied some keywords from it to their document on the investigation.

\----

As they had expected, Dick made a small fuss over not being of help in the investigation. Jason, but mostly Tim, had to assure him that they made very little progress in the case and let him in on the theories they had on if they’d switched boats on the island the assassin’s boat was found on or if they’d ditched the boat before sending it to strand on it.

Tim pulled up a map and they all sat down to debate what location nearby the island they found to be the most attractive to a kidnapper. They soon got lost in their silliest theories; “What if they escaped through a portal to the underworld where every child-napper belong.” or “Maybe the toddler learned to drive a boat itself and just ditched the party-poopers.”

At this point Alfred had brought them some blankets and snacks. Looking at his brothers laugh at a thought of a toddler-superhero turning into a boat, Tim guessed that this must be what normal families felt on movie-nights or game-nights. He went to take a sip of water but almost choked as Dick made a joke that even got Jason from laughing to hollering.

\----

Dick groaned as his back hit the mats. Jason loomed passively over him, waiting for his brother to get up as Tim came running to them. “Sorry for taking so long.”

Dick hesitantly sat up and Jason ruffled the kid’s hair as he came up to them. “No sweat, squirt. Ready get your ass kicked in name of training?”

The shorter boy tried to stifle a giggle. “Nah-ah. This time I’ll win!”

Jason, hands on hips, plastered a grin on his face and raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Someone's confident.”

Working and living together had gotten the brothers closer. Breakfast and dinner, then working and training in the cave and teaming up on patrols and missions. They spent hours together everyday and it was a miracle that Jason had only slammed a door in Dick’s face twice.

Whenever they were in a slump and couldn’t make any progress, they would often teach each other tricks and tips. This time Jason had offered some tips on a hidden blade technique, which was why the three were in the training area an hour before patrol.

Dick jumped up with gusto and grabbed a set of knives. “Common Timmy. Let’s show this oak that we’re not to be messed with.”

\----

Finishing up their training, a call came in on a secure line and Tim went to pick it up while the older ones cleaned up. Gathering the last knife, Dick turned to his teen brother: “You really moving out?”

Jason glanced over his shoulder as he unwrapped his knuckles. “Kinda why I invited you help with the furniture.”

The older snorted. “I thought it was a housewarming party?”

“Sure. You warm up moving the couch.”

Dick threw one of the knifes sloppily at the teen. “You’re such an ass.”

Jason easily caught the small weapon with a grin. “What does that mean for our relationship if you’re the dick?”

The older groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Please. Just please don’t.”

With a chuckle the teen helped put away the rest of the knives. The two just finished up as Tim came trotting back. “That was Bruce. He is taking a trip to Myanmar where Pamela Isley and Harley Quinn have been spotted in a rural area.”

Jason glanced back to the eldest. “Hear that, brother dearest? We have the place for ourselves for even longer. It’s bout’ time we threw party. Full out trash-the-mansion-party just as I move out.”

Dick grinned back. “You only want to piss him off.” Which Jason only shrugged to.

Tim however wasn’t too happy about where the conversation had gone. “You can’t! It will trouble Alfie.”

His two brothers only smiled at him in response, which did far from put him at ease.

Dick picked up his phone to answer a few texts when he got thinking: “When was the last time Bruce spent time here anyway? I mean, it’s supposed to be his home.”

Jason shrugged. “I have only seen him a few times since I came back. He’s always leaving or heading for his max 'four-hour bat-naps'.”

Big eyes turned upward to his teenaged brother. “He hasn’t talked to you at all yet?”

Jason shook his head and Tim looked solemnly to the floor.

“Don’t worry bout it, squirt. He not too fun company anyway. Why don’tcha team up with me tonight? I’ll make sure you can kick as much ass you want.”

Tim was not convinced but tried to force a smile. Jason forced down the little scratch of annoyance that came from looking at it. Shyly the kid nodded in agreement. “I’ll suit up right away, little red riding hood.”

“Hey! It’s ‘Red Hood’, kiddo. You little-.” Jason grinned as Tim ran off, sporting an almost matching smile, if not still a bit troubled.

\----

Three months into the investigation and they hadn’t gotten any further. There was literally nothing. No tracks from the found boat. No digital trail. No demands for a ransom or threats. There wasn’t even a suspect on who could have taken the toddler.

Jason sat slumped on his sofa, absentmindedly scrolling down on his PC. A knock on the door stirred him from his thoughts and he went to open.

“Why are you here, Dick-head?”

A familiar figure stood at the door, one hand in his pocket and a bag in the other.

“Good to see you too, little wing. I brought a batch of Alfie’s cookies.” He said holding up the bag.

Jason’s eyes immediately went to it. “Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

Dick let out a laugh as he was let in. “Pretty sure you confessed your undying love last time I bought you ice-cream when you were drunk.”

Opening the bag on the kitchen counter, Jason scoffed. “Please, I only had a glass of whisky. I couldn’t even have been classified as tipsy.”

The older man slung himself on the sofa. “Sure. By the way, there are a few more chairs at the dining table in the mansion. And Tim is all alone being the only kid there.”

“I’m not a kid just because I’m not 21.”

“No, you are a kid because you are under 18. Legally not an adult. Actually, I’m pretty sure you are a baby still. A drinking, smoking baby.”

Jason put a few of the cookies on a plate and went over to his brother. “Scuse me? I’m far from a baby. …-at least not in the way you’re implying.” He winked as he sat the plate down next to his PC.

“You are! Like totally.” Dick sat up straight and pointed at his brother that already had a cookie in his mouth. “You haven’t even been alive for a year continually.”

Jason took the half of the cookie sticking out of his mouth in hand and groaned. “This is not gonna become a thing is it? I swear, ‘Little Wing’ is bad enough, but ‘baby’-. Ugh.”

Dick snorted. “Chew before you speak, baby.”

Jason groaned again before throwing the other half of his cookie in his mouth. A ding came from the laptop and the teen turned it towards him, reading the new message.

“Why so grumpy, baby? Your secret lover giving you bad news?”

“For the love of- stop with that name! Besides, they’re a broker that’s even helped out the justice league, not some lovesick fangirl.”

Dick leant his elbow on the sofa’s arm and rested his head in his hand. “You don’t know that. They could be writing poems about you after they hit the send button. They contact you way more than anyone else, even sending you a copy of whatever they’ve sent to the league members.”

He took his phone out of his pocket and laid it on the table before continuing: “And it is true that they are secret. They only sign their messages with ‘R for Redemption’. None of us know their face or name. Not that we’ve looked too hard for them. ‘Respect the mask’ and all that.”

The teen grunted before he got a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Fine, you wanna talk lovesick admirers, I’ll talk lovesick admirers. Remember Bethany? Or Mary? What about Hanna? And wasn’t it the Swedish girl, Sigrid, that always invited you out? And how did the case with the last stalker end? Did you get that restraining order?”

“Ugh, fine! I’ll shut up.”

Jason smirked in his unannounced victory and the older took another cookie to chew it obnoxiously loud.

They spent a few minutes in silence, before Dick broke it. “Bruce is back from his space-dance. Don’t tell him I called it that. He was also in favor of you coming over for dinner and movies as well, not just missions. I swear. He grunted in agreement when I asked to invite you.”

The teen sighed before grabbing another cookie. “I don’t know. We tried talking again last week, but-…” he trailed off.

Dick slumped against the back of the sofa after also picking up a snack. “Yeah, I heard. Tim said it went to shouting about three sentences in and silence only seconds later.”

“Pretty much.”

“… so you’re both keeping it professional and are only going to talk business? Ignoring your problems completely?”

Garfing down the cookie, Jason answered with closed eyes: “Yup. Isn’t that the only way we handle shit in this so called ‘family’?”

“It is a family. Our family. All families have their rough patches.”

“Hmph. With him it is nothing but rough patches.”

Dick sighed and leaned forward. “Common. Give it another shot? As much as you both want to deny it, you care for each other. You need to talk this out, and when better than surrounded by family to help you out?”

Jason pretended to think about it. “what about… never. I think that would be a better time.”

The older man curved his lips upwards. “Nope. Not an option, Little Wi-baby.”

Again, Jason groaned, theatrically louder than the ones before. “You’re seriously keeping up with that name?”

Dick’s smile turned into a smirk. “It might be confusing with Baby Bird around. Maybe I’ll drop it if you’re at the table tomorrow.”

Jason picked up another cookie. “That’s blackmail, you know?”

The older nodded. “Sure is, baby.”

“Kinky.”

“… Never mind. I regret everything.”

\-----

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to give a thanks to ArtemisMay, AiraSilver, Bernie67, Thekotos, bookgirl18, AlexaHiwatari98 and MooredMermaid for responding to my screetch for help about this story and being totally sweet about it. Honestly, I felt so happy reading the supportive comments.


	6. Family dinner and Friendly drinks

Jason stood silently in the mild wind, letting the leaves rustle around him. He couldn’t remember if it was fall or if the place just always needed to have some symbol of darkness draped over it. Dead leaves certainly helped paint the gray picture at least. Not that he paid them any mind.

After he had parked and gotten off his bike, he had stood still for over a minute watching. Just looking at the manor. Not studying it. Not memorizing it. Not thinking. Just letting his eyes rest on the façade.

The last time he had been there was also the first time he had spoken with Bruce. At least, the first time after he had come back from Infinity island. Not that it had been much talking either.

Tim had told Dick about the “conversation”, but he was pretty sure the kid had undermined it hard for their relationship-loving brother.

Jason had kept a promise to talk with at least one of them once a week. He had talked to Alfred on the phone and offered to pick Tim up from school that day after, since the butler had mentioned that a few more minutes in the day could give him some time to try a new recipe he had wanted.

The old man had thanked him, and the kid had been ecstatic when he saw his brother in the school’s parking lot. He had beamed at him when he all but sprinted up to take the offered helmet. He had jumped on with a giggle after Jason had first mounted the bike. He had shouted out when they had taken the less trafficked roads to go well above the speed limit.

They had both greeted Alfred as they entered, and Tim had been offered the honored and paramount duty of opening the oven for Alfred as Jason only got the task to set the timer. The boys had then together gone to Tim’s room with the completely believable excuse of the kid needing help with his homework.

Honestly, Jason had done most of it. They both knew the younger boy knew the material more than well enough to ace any test and Jason had missed the normalcy of the work. Missed school even. They only needed Tim’s handwriting so no teacher would look twice at it and accuse him of something like cheating. Would Tim actually ever cheat? In some situations, it could be beneficial. Would he ever be caught cheating? By a schoolteacher? No. Just no.

They had sat there, Tim on the only chair and Jason on the bed, when the door was slammed open. Menacing and threatening, the figure still in Kevlar strode in. Steps headed straight for the teen.

Bruce stopped two feet away and Jason had no idea how he should react. Was he supposed to tremble like some of the villains did when they saw the dark knight? Was he to sit and listen like a good kid? Was he to be defensive and stand his ground? If so, against what?

“The Red Hood was spotted in an alley with three drug dealers yesterday.”

Jason took in what he knew to be the gravely voice of Batman. The one used on missions. The one in the field. The voice used against crooks and murderers.

“Yes?” Calling them drug dealers was honestly a little offensive. Jason had little to nothing against drug dealers. Sometimes people just needed some cash to stay afloat, it wasn’t like they shoved cocaine down the throat of any innocent passersby and forced them into addiction as they pumped them with heroin.

It was when the drug dealers handed their stash out to kids, not even 15 of age, that the Red Hood felt a need to intervene. It was after he had chased the kids off and had a talk with the drug dealers he felt the need to pull out the guns. Not only did the tree deal with prescription free drugs, they had also offered him some goods in the form of living beings to keep his mouth shut. Human children to be precise. And it wasn’t even the child trafficking that involved rehoming them into families that didn’t mind the effort of kidnapping or the once that needed some small hands for work. It was very much the prefer-children-when-they-remove-their-underwear kind.

So, they may have gotten their kneecaps shot and been beaten for a while before their throats mysteriously had opened up to spill some red. What could he say? His eyes had turned green and he had seen red.

Bruce nearly grated out “The three drug dealers were found dead in a dumpster this morning.”

“Where the trash belongs.” Came out without a thought. Jason almost got proud of his automatic reply. It felt natural, like it just flowed off his tongue.

“You do NOT KILL IN MY CITY!” the bat roared and grabbed the teen by the front of his t-shirt.

Jason’s eyes widened. This was the bat. This was not the billionaire philanthropist. This was not the dad of three boys. This was the guardian of Gotham. The dark knight that brought nightmare to the vilest of villains. The strict punisher of crimes.

And this was the bat condemning him for killing in his city? Jason took a second to witness the territorial man that growl out in anger for someone making sure three men would never harm another kid again.

“YOU DO NOT KILL!”

Oh, so Jason couldn’t kill some scum, but they ruining children’s lives went unmentioned? Them laughing the night before about how a kid felt better in the bed than a woman didn’t matter?

Oh hell no.

“Not you! Jaybird, not you.”

Jason grabbed the man by the outstretched wrist. Breathing exercises be damned. He saw red and he knew the man noticed the green seeping into his eyes.

The thing he regretted about that day was screaming in Tim’s room. Fighting in front of the kid. Oh god, had the kid even been there? The teen had lost track of everything after Bruce had started roaring.

He had hoped the kid had escaped when their pseudo father had entered. He hoped, but he didn’t really believe it. He could imagine Tim standing there. Trying to intervene. Trying to get between them only to be pushed hard away. Being slammed into the wall or hitting his head on the desk for trying to help. Left silently crying on the ground, ignored by the ones that had said they cared about him.

He knew it hadn’t happened. He knew he hadn’t given Tim a concussion or flung him into a wall. He had even called Alfred later to ask the butler to give Tim a onceover. He knew the kid had no bruising from the day, but the images were still there. He pictured Tim crying, trying to stand up after being knocked to the floor, only to have two men violently flailing their heavy arms around and screaming over him.

“Young master Jason?”

Jason forced the haze in his mind away as he focused his eyes on where the voice came from. Returning back to reality was a task he had gotten accustomed to.

Alfred Pennyworth stood passively in the now open front door. The teen had probably been staring at him the whole time without registering the man. Or maybe he way lucky and had been letting his eyes rest on some unoccupied window.

Either way he was now looking at the elderly and starting to become part of the present again; he walked up to the man as he removed his helmet.

“Sorry, Alfie. Just needed a minute.”

“Certainly, young sir.” The butler stepped aside and let the teen pass before softly closing the door behind them.

“Am I the last one here?” Jason asked as he handed over his helmet.

“Master Richard is driving miss Gordon up as we speak. They will arrive to the estate in approximately eight minutes.”

The teen didn’t look at the butler as he started fiddling with the zipper on his leather jacket. “I’m guessing it’s not proper manners for a guest to stand in the reception for eight minutes?”

“Indeed, it is not deemed polite. However, the only other adult in the manor is currently located in his room and there are still quite a lot that needs to be moved from the kitchen without ever needing to pass that door.”

Jason felt a shy smile pulling at his lips and relented to remove his jacket. “Thanks, Alfie.”

He gave the leather garment to the waiting butler and went to wash his hands in the bathroom. In there he pulled out his phone and opened his messages. He found Roy’s contact and simply sent him a frowning face. Putting down his phone he washed up and headed for the kitchen to give a hand.

\----

\----

“- and then the corporal just lost his mind! Like, he started seriously trashing about. Papers and stuff flew everywhere!”

Both Tim and Barbra giggled as Dick enthusiastically moved his entire upper body along with his story. Jason let a smirk grow on his face, he truly enjoyed the man’s antics as he used his forkful to imitate a speeding car, but then a clink reminded the teen of the other man at the table and his face fell.

Bruce was sitting right over for Jason. (Alfred chose the seating and no-one argues against the butler and wins) The man had done little other than grunt in response to his children’s questions. He just sat still, perfect posture, and only glanced over to who was talking occasionally. Whether he meant to or not, he showed that he was only there to eat, and not make conversations.

He had gotten a little better as the dinner went on. Going from grunts out the nose to “hmmm”s and “mhm”s. But he was stubbornly refusing to look straight ahead. To look straight at Jason.

And Jason hurt. It felt like someone was squeezing the hearth in his chest. He couldn’t pretend Bruce was just too busy with the league or a criminal to pay him any heed. He was there, at dinner, sitting at the table and blatantly ignoring the teen.

Jason wanted to try to break the tension separating them, to start a conversation. He could at least try to approach the grump first once. It wasn’t exactly a secret that the man didn’t talk much.

But then the shouting and berating from last they met come to mind and Jason tore his eyes away from the man.

He felt some slight scratching wanting to build up on the inside, but he quickly squashed it down. 

Making sure it was buried deep he tried to tune in to the conversation still going. Tim had taken over and Jason was sure he must have been talking about a classmate that had puked in the library. The kid was much more still than Dick when telling, but he still used some hand gestures and nodded his head once in a while.

Barbra looked almost fondly at the kid that tried hard to give an accurate description of the event. Dick looked almost engrossed in his baby brother’s story as he nodded along and asked another question. Tim almost looked like he horrifyingly relived the event as he tried to describe the stench of the dirtied carped that a teacher valiantly tried to clean up.

The three almost looked like they were in their own little bubble of a happy family. Almost. Jason easily saw past their smiling masks and clumsy acting. Not bad for actors, but not believable for reality.

Pretenders. Fake. Can’t be trusted.

Jason squinted his eyes when he realized where his mind was headed and tried to shake the thoughts away. He took in a silent breath after once again squishing down the clawing fire inside. Damn, he really had to keep a tight hold on his temper today.

“-bother you, Jason?”

The teen shot open his eyes. “Nothing!”

The room filled with silence and he looked around. Everybody was staring at him. Questioning looks from all around, even from Bruce. Great, shouting out and making a fool of himself was apparently what it took to get the grump’s attention.

Dick scratched his neck. “Uh, I was just asking if someone puking on your favorite books would bother you. You ok there, Jay? Need a breather?” Concern was clear in his voice, and Jason could see the same emotion in the other’s eyes.

Even the old man. No, Jason quickly looked away from him. He must be slipping up if he can’t look through the bat’s act. It was just another mask the man wore. A mask of concern for a teen he no longer cared for.

The teen instead looked to his elder brother. “ ‘orry. Just a little out of it.”

The room fell back into silence.

Scrapes on plates and gulps of drinks. The atmosphere was thick enough to cut through with a batarang. Jason, like the others, focused on the food on his plate.

Tap. Jason looked up at Bruce. The man had put down his cutlery and rested his elbows on the table as he folded his hands.

“About last time, Jaylad-” The teen raised an eyebrow in suspicion. 

“I may have stepped out of line.” At the realization of where this was going, Jason quickly glanced over to who he would guess had initiated this. He tried to turn the glance into a hard glare even as Dick kept his eyes on his food, not looking up for a second.

“I took my anger out on you.” The teen tore his eyes back to Bruce finding the man looking back. Holding his gaze, his eyes were… earnest. The teen would even describe the look as something that boarded being gentle.

“The one I have no right being angry with. … I failed you.” Jason put his cutlery down. Hands going limp as he laid them in his lap.

“I should have saved you that day.” The teen only blinked. He knew the other three was still at the table, but he couldn’t see them. Couldn’t hear them. He was only seeing ice-blue eyes piercing into him. The words and stare together digging into his very core.

“I should have kept the Joker in jail.” Jason was quiet as the man went on. He tried hard to keep his face neutral, to keep his hands down from wiping at his face. To keep them from trembling. There was no way he was going to cry. Instead he put half his mind to work on keeping the scorching clawing down. The mention of the mad clown certainly didn’t help. The green flames roared just at the mention of the name and Jason was sure he let out a small whimper.

“I should have come before he raised that crowbar for the first time.” The bar came down again and again. Accompanied by the repulsive sound of cracking bones. He could not remember the pain, only the fear.

“I should have been by you when you woke up. I should have known you were alive.” Stone-faced, Jason felt like he was losing the fight. Whether against the tears or anger, he didn’t know. It was just pressure at this point. Pressure. Slowly building pressure fueled by Bruce’s every sentence.

However, it all stopped at the man’s next words: “I should have never let you become a killer. Some cold blooded crook.” 

Jason’s eyes were wide. He was pretty sure there was pure venom in that last grounded out statement. Venom that froze the teen’s veins from the inside.

The room had gone completely silent. Or maybe he just wasn’t hearing anything anymore.

He didn’t think of that, however. He didn’t think of the silence as he pushed his chair back. He didn’t think of the amazing food he would be leaving. He didn’t think that any of the figures at the tables should have faces, and not just be some blurs of gray.

He only stood up, and walked. Heading for the door, the only blur he somehow still knew what was.

There was a hand grabbing his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. He didn’t stop. He grabbed for the door, even as he wasn’t close enough to reach it yet.

He’s not sure if he ever opened the door, or how he walked out, but the clattering of a metal lid caught his attention.

Alfred was standing in front of him, grabbing for a used steel pan to wash.

The teen glanced up and found himself sitting on the floor in the kitchen. He was taking deep breaths and his blurry vision started to clear.

It smelled of food and soap. The brush loudly scraped dirt away from metal. The hard tiles were cold under him. Senses came back to him one by one.

A small sigh escaped his lips and he pulled his knees up to let his forehead rest on them.

“How long have I been here, Alfie?” the words were mumbled and low, but he hoped the man had heard him.

He heard the man put down the cleaned pan and saw him slightly turning out of the corner of his eye. “Approximately one hour and ten minutes, young master Jason.”

The teen let out another sigh just as the tap was turned on.

“Where’re the others?”

The tap was turned off and the butler stepped closer to the teen. “Master Dick just departed with miss Gordon five minutes ago. While young master Timothy is once more back in his room. The lad was checking up on you every so often and I assume he will be returning in another ten minutes.”

A glass of water was held out to the teen and Jason lifted his head.

“Thanks, Alfie.” He muttered as he took the glass.

“Anytime.” The butler stood up from crouching in front of the teen and stepped back. “I would recommend some rest for now. Will you be staying?”

Jason shifted so he held the glass with both hands and lowered one leg to lay flat on the floor. “Nah. Somehow not tired.

He sat there while the butler went back to the dishes. The man finished up in minutes and true to his words; tussled black hair entered through the door right after.

The teen lifted his arm and the kid was soon settled at his side, leaning into him. That didn’t last too long as it was a school-night and Tim was waved off with a promise to meet again soon.

Alfred turned to the teen as he was leaving with the kid. “You may want to have a look at your phone, master Jason. It made some noise while you were out.”

Jason nodded and shifted his weight to fish out his phone.

On the screen were two notifications. One from his e-mail and one about five new messages. He entered the code and opened his messages, four of them from Roy.

‘That bad?’ ‘How’s it goin?’ ‘Is it over?’ ‘You there? Do I need to track you down and rescue you princess?’

Jason smirked as he read the last one. He’d been joking about the dinner being him entering the monster’s den and Roy being himself gallantly proclaimed himself the noble knight saving any and every damsel in distress.

The teen typed in an answer of the event being over and sent it. Before he even got to put his phone down the reply came.

‘Bad?’

Jason sighed as he let his head lull back and hit the wall. It certainly hadn’t gone well. Another ping sounded from the device in his hand.

‘Did you try?’

Jason typed out a quick ‘yes’.

Another ping and Jason huffed with a smile as he read the new message. ‘I know a guy that brewed warehouses full of mead. The good kind. Be at your place in 40.’

\----

He’d met the fellow black sheep right after moving out of the big ass mansion. Settled in in his new apartment he’d gone for a stroll to familiarize himself with the streets. Finding the dead ends and shortcuts.

He had gone into an alleyway when he’d noticed something red out of the corner of his eye. Turning he saw a body propped against a dumpster, mostly hidden from anyone passing on the street.

“Hey?”

Jason got no response. The red clad figure only sat there. He could see him breathing with eyes closed, but the other man looked too much like shit for simply sleeping. A black eye, split lip and bruising peeking out from his collar were some of the more prominent features that stood out to the teen vigilante.

Jason stepped closer and nudged an outstretched leg with his foot.

That got a response. The other’s eyes flew open and he quickly held his arms up in front with fists ready to fight. It seemed he also wanted to shoot up, but his legs failed in getting a grip, so he stayed on the ground as he tried to get a look at who had woken him up.

“Easy there tiger.” Jason stepped back again and took in the living mess. His eyes couldn’t seem to focus on the teen’s face and Jason was pretty sure the small wince he had tried to cover was out of pain.

“You good?” the bat asked already knowing that the other certainly wasn’t. But instead of an answer he got snark in reply.

“What’s it to you?”

Ok, fine. Jason guessed they were still in Gotham. Friendly faces helping each other out wasn’t the norm around here.

The teen made his movements obvious and crouched down. “Just dun want anybody to find a corpse and blame it on lil ol’ me that just so happened to go into the same alleyway.”

It took a second but the guy in red snorted. Jason wondered if he might have a concussion for having such slow reaction.

“Get lost kid. I don’t do sympathy or help.” The other lowered his fists, but still held a threatening body language as he grabbed the dumpster and tried to pull himself up.

However, it was not like Jason was going to take orders from someone injured and so out of it. “Then you’re in the right neighborhood. No-one’s gonna help you here.” Jason stood up and moved closer. “Until today that is.”

The guy glared at him with blown pupils. “The fuck you planning?”

Jason, movements still obvious held out his hand to indicate he wanted to pull the human mess up by his arm. “To help.”

The two stood like that for over a minute before the redhead relented with a sigh.

The teen slung the redhead’s arm over his shoulder and got him standing. From there it didn’t get any easier with the man refusing hospital and giving any address.

Jason wouldn’t trust the stranger with knowing where he lived and the stranger wouldn’t trust to follow Jason. Hm, maybe they actually were a little alike. It wasn’t like Jason had never been beaten as badly as the other before either. Hell, he’d been beaten to death.

Still, only weeks after, the redhead was now walking up to his apartment right in front of him. The man spotted the biker as well and waited for him at the stairs.

“This better not have gone too bad cause he only gave me two bottles.”

Jason parked and removed his black civilian helmet. “They better be strong then.”

Roy snorted and slung an arm over the teen’s shoulders as they walked up, side by side. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”

The two sauntered into the apartment. Roy slung himself on the sofa, having handed his bag over to the younger.

“You talked with the big bad wolf?”

Jason poured two glasses as he answered. “Not really. He ignored me for most of it, decided to condemn my lifestyle then I walked out.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad.” The man mused as he kicked off his boots.

Jason hummed as he brought over the too full glasses, carefully setting them down on the table, only spilling a little.

The redhead sat up and bended over as he grabbed his drink and sipped at it. Getting the mead down to a reasonable amount, he sat back and watched the teen chug down the last few drops of his own.

“So I’m guessing you glossed over pretty much all the details. Ignored, then berated? Not even a fistfight with your old man?” Roy asked as Jason poured himself another glass.

The teen huffed something that might be a laugh. “I see I’ve painted him in a bad picture. Sure, he can throw a punch, but he dun go for friends and family.” Under his breath he added: “usually.”

The man snorted. “So it’s more in the psychological range?”

Jason had almost emptied his second glass before answering. “It’s just- I guess I wish he could at least attempt to hold a normal conversation. Instead he goes right into the serious shit and stays silent through everything that doesn’t give someone another reason to see the therapist. For fuck’s sake! He even mentioned that murd- some shitty person that did some shit to me years ago.”

“Sure, nice cover up.” Roy mused about the teens slip. He knocked it back and emptied his glass as well. He sat it down as he turned seriously to his friend. “I know I only have the little info you’ve given me, but did you try talk to him yourself? It doesn’t really seem like you’ve made your point to your pops, like, at any time at all.”

Jason took the last swig as he leant back in his chair. He looked to the ceiling and mumbled a quiet “Fuck off.”

Roy sighed and leant forward. Grabbing the bottle, he filled up both glasses.

The mood quickly lightened as the topic move away from family issues and on to more fun things. Roy told the teen about revering his bike in front of a police blockade and Jason was soon spilling his drink laughing.

Bottles long emptied, they were lounging in the living room. They would drift in and out of conversations, having prolonged breaks of comfortable silence.

Jason was answering an earlier mail on his computer when it dinged with a new one.

“Somebody’s popular.” Roy remarked with a small smirk.

Jason only blew out his nose and finished his current mail.

The redhead, not liking being ignored, lent forward to get a glimpse of the screen. He couldn’t read anything from his position and instead of bothering to actually move he decided to just ask: “Who’s it from? Your lover?”. He wiggled his eyebrows as the teen irritated looked back at him. He was pretty sure the black-haired boy said something like ‘not again’ under his breath, but didn’t ask about it.

Hitting send, the teen opened the new message. “Just somebody answering a question of mine.”

Roy sat back in the sofa as he finally got his friend to bother with him. “About what? Don’t tell me you’re one of those hitting up fortune tellers?”

Jason snorted before pulling his attention back to finish reading the text. “Nah. Actual fortune tellers are never online. Or near technology. I swear; it’s like they still livin in Victorian times.”

“Sounds like you know.”

Jason hummed. It was not like he was lying to the guy, but he already knew about Roy being Green Arrow’s protégé. He knew his friend’s past and struggles, so similar to his own in many ways. Keeping secrets probably wasn’t the best way to cement a friendship. Not when he knew the redhead would find out somehow anyway.

So why not just mention the red helmet he had hidden in his closet? Because he was raised by the paranoid bat himself, AND indoctrinated by the secretive league of assassins. He only revealed other’s truth, not his own. Just blurting out that he used to be Robin would be like giving the middle finger to the old grump as he simultaneously cursed out the assassins.

…  
It would be a pretty big “fuck you” to both sides.

Besides, it’s not like Roy was a known tattletale. He would be talking to someone who even kept identity secrets for the man he claimed to hate. The redhead had rattled off many things wrong about his ‘dad’, but he never let anything slip about him being the Arrow of Starlight city.

Jason straightened up and looked to his friend. He kept his eyes straight till Roy looked back and held his gaze.

“You know how I sometimes come back with a few spots of blood on my jacket?” Easing someone into this was the best way the teen found, so he started in the small.

“You mean when you go out as Red Hood?”

Jason blinked. Ok, that- that he hadn’t expected.

Roy snorted as he lent back in the couch. “Don’t be so surprised. I’m an addict, not blind.”

The teen smirked. “Guess the Bat isn’t the only detective in town.”

Gesturing with his hand and halfway bowing sitting down, Roy took a moment before leaning back and continuing. “That who you talking to?”

“Nah.” Jason spun the PC so the screen faced Roy and went to sit beside him. “Some informant calling themselves “R for Redemption” has taken to sending statistics and others vague hints to where to look for crimes and troubles.”

“Wait. The same “R” that’s sent tip-offs to Justice League?” Roy sounded surprised.

“That would be them.” The teen confirmed.

The man read and re-read the text before remembering something. “Waaaait, you said you asked R a question?”

Jason nodded and pulled up a document and copied some of the text over to it.

The redhead looked baffled at the teen. “You have a way to communicate with them?”

He could see the teen trying to force down a smirk.

Roy tried to stare Jason into speaking, and Jason tried to keep a stone face as he glued his eyes to the laptop screen.

The redhead relented with a silent groan and a sigh. “Fine. Show off, dumbass. How you talking to this gal or guy that nobody else can reach? What amaaaazing programs and algorithms have you gone through to open a secure line of communication with the eluding hacker?”

Jason couldn’t keep down the corner of his lips as he looked to his friend.

“Twitter.”


	7. Dick and the crime lord

The door shut after the day’s last dealer and Jason slumped back in his chair.

“Ugh. Whose idea was this?”

An amused huff came from a darkened corner of the new office room. “Yours.”

Jason grunted and pulled off his helmet, taking a deep breath once free of it. Since he wasn’t to patrol or go out this day he hadn’t even bothered putting on his mask. His face was barren, and he relished in the moment when he could feel the brush of fresh air over his cheeks.

Roy stepped closer and into the light. “Come on. You wanted someone to do something about crime in Gotham, now you’re doing it. Organizing and setting some basic rules.” The redhead slung an arm around the teen’s shoulders. “You really are a stand-up criminal.”

Jason threw his helmet lightly to the wall and huffed a laugh. “Sure. A true role model for the kiddoes. There’ll be a picture of me in every school.”

The man smirked of that and let go of him. Piking up a small stack of papers he sat down in its place and skimmed over them. “Yeah, I might have rather tried to beat you up and send you to jail when I was school age. Junior vigilante and all that. I’m sure there’ll be quite a few influential journalists willing to give your side tho.”

Kicking his feet up on the desk, Jason snorted. “Ironic, really. I’d be a pretty big target for the ‘me’ before I died.”

Roy’s eyes drifted to his friend with a slight crease between his brows. The topic, since first mentioned, seemed to get that kind of response from the older.

It was strange. Ever since he got off the assassin’s island, his death seems to have become a taboo topic. First with his family. His brothers either flinching or turning away just at the hint of it. Alfred getting that somber shroud in his eyes that Jason never ever wanted to be the cause of. It squeezed a little at his hearth every time. And now even his one and only true friend had a negative reaction from the mention of that big part in Jason’s life. Or rather death.

Maybe it was a mistake to tell the other. The young bat was never one that liked to hurt a friend. Not when they were so hard for him to come by in the first place. So, he adapts. He hates it, but he avoids it. He glazes over it or puts on a mask like some cowardly liar.

“So, ready for some rooting tooting point and shooting, hot stuff?” the teen easily changed topic, getting the redhead to groan dramatically.

Jason smirked, and as soon as the man looked back at him, he couldn’t keep the corner of his lips down. Roy punched him lightly in his overarm and stood up. “You mentioned R informing you of Black Mask “throwing a party” tomorrow.”

The teen nodded and opened a drawer, rummaging through it till he pulled out a flash drive. “They sent me the tip last week. Black Mask, with the help of firearms and henchmen, will take on some more territory. I did some digging of my own to find out the details.”

Roy received the drive and twirled it between his fingers. “Okay? And what is my role in this? Why all this planning just to take down one bad guy?”

Jason put his feet down and turned in his chair as he laced his fingers together. Resting the elbows on the armrests. “I’m not just taking down one bad guy. This is about territory in a business I’ve just gotten into.”

The redhead raised an eyebrow as he got the hint. “So you’ll be the only one gaining space tomorrow.”

Jason calmly nodded. 

Roy hummed and put the drive in his pocket. “I’m guessing that’s not all?”

The teen’s eyes turned sharp, and if Roy hadn’t known any better, he would swear that he could see green moving around in, and flowing into, them. The boy nodded again and opened his mouth. “I tracked the smuggling ring to him.”

A frown deepened the redheads features. “The one selling and abusing children?”

Jason nodded again and closed his eyes. “Gotham can’t be rid of its crime, but it can be reined in.” He let his hands fall to his lap and leant back in his chair. “At least I have a chance to change it from within. And rid it of this hell for children.”

The smuggling ring what was had first gotten Jason to follow a path leading to turning into a crime lord.

It had all started with Roy finding the teen slumped over on his couch. Face mashed on keyboard and pages upon pages being written on screen with just the letter “t”. The redhead had learned about him looking for a missing kid, but this was the first time he got the impression that the teen was truly obsessed.

It had been gradual from then. Starting with Roy encouraging him to actively search out crime and do something about it. He begun with what organized crime he had already come across: the child trafficking.

He already knew it existed, and even had an idea about one of the locations. He went after it and he got deeper and deeper. Finding the traders and kidnappers alike, leaving only a handful of them alive.

The cops got accustomed to the unknown number calling them to pic up the scared kids. The kids who had been kidnapped and abused till the Red Hood came along to free them. He always asked them the same things; if they were hurt, if they were everyone and if they had seen a toddler with raven hair and emerald eyes.

The kids all told the same story of their savoir, and with a few assumptions added, the Red Hood was soon dubbed “the searching father” by the cops and media alike.

Jason had scoffed at the papers. If anything, he felt like Damian was the one who used to take care of him. Teaching him and supporting him even when he was barely able to form a conscious thought.

The teen went after the ring harder. Even starting to take out its customers after having a word with them. He knew that this was bigger than Gotham. The dealers even traded overseas. Which only prompted Jason to focus on them more.

He hadn’t left town himself yet, but he kept tabs on everything he found of interest. He had a though, that if anyone were mad enough to mess with the League of Assassins and who they valued, it would be the scum of Gotham.

It was his new obsession. And even if Roy protested, saying it wasn’t healthy, he couldn’t argue with result. Criminals had something other than the Bat to look out for, and the redhead was more than happy to help

…at times.

They went in guns blazing.

They had waited for the crime lord himself to show before they set off some minor explosives they had planted. The floor gave away under the man and his underlings, and the two new criminal crimefighters took down the few still standing personally.

Jason shot the last woman in the shoulder before kicking her feet out from under her. She went down with a grunt, and after knocking her unconscious, the teen went to his friend who was digging out the body of Black Mask.

The criminal was still very much alive. As soon as Roy hoisted him up by his jacket the man started to get his bearing. He might have been out of it for a bit, but he was soon shouting. Words loud but slurred. Threats and profanities mixed into his questions of who and what.

Jason soon silenced him with a shot to the man’s knee once Roy had secured him with some rope. Less than an hour later the two had been so kindly given the crime lord’s bank details and some few tidbits of information.

Roy went to the door, but the teen lingered. He looked at the bound man. The blood was smeared out on the floor under him and he could hardly sit in a normal position without jostling something that was broken.

He was quite frankly in a sorry state. If Jason had found a normal civilian like that, he would immediately have thought of how he could help. This was however no normal civilian.

Jason had only learned more of the man’s doings in planning this attack. So he didn’t try to find a way to stop the bleedings. He didn’t try to help the wounded. He didn’t feel any remorse. Even as Roy had tried to get Jason to go gentler, or even take brakes, the teen had just went on. Slashing, punching, pricking and breaking. Feeling little but accomplishment at the progress he made.

Now he stood there passively. Hearing the door close behind his friend as he was left alone with the man and his henchmen, either dead or tied up to watch their boss bleed. He shifted and raised his arm calmly, gun in hand.

“Why don’t cha find out if there truly is a hell.”

\----

“Red Hood.”

Roy turned to the voice from the darkness on the roof, but Jason kept his eyes on the horizon as the sun was about peek out for the new day to start.

A figure in black stepped forward, the blue streak across his chest just illuminated by the little light that was. Roy kept his head low, face cast in the shadow of his cap.

“Nightdick. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Dick reacted to his brother’s nickname with the slight raise of a brow. He stopped a few feet away from the two others, keeping some distance.

“Batman is currently looking over a crime scene.”

“Nothing new.” Jason said as he finally turned around to face his brother. The elder was openly scowling and didn’t seem to be in any joking mood.

“I recognized some things there when I went with him,” the dark-haired man started, his fists clenched by his side. “some things I only know from you.”

Jason leant backwards, towards the edge of the roof. “Oh, you checked out Black Mask. Dun worry, he won’t be a problem anymore.”

Dick took a step closer in anger. “HE’S DEAD!”

The teen only nodded his head. “Yeah, kinda what a bullet to the head does to people.”

“Little- Hood! This is not some joking matter. 28 people are dead! 28!”

Jason tsked and wagged a finger. “Ah-ah. 28 criminals are dead. Although I was pretty sure we only killed 23… guess some might have passed on from their injuries tho.”

Dick takes another step forward, eying the unknown redhead for any weapons before steeling his eyes on his brother. “You have-…”

He stopped midsentence and froze in position. After a second he turned slightly, doing a double take.

“Speedy?”

Roy held in a sigh and raised his head. The sunlight that was just starting to bend over the horizon made his hair seem like shining gold and made his pale skin glow.

“Long time, no see little Robin.” The redhead kept his tone even as he let his body sink into a seemingly relaxed posture.

“You- you’ve been gone-”

“Yeah, yeah. Needed some time for myself or whatever.” Roy cut him off and rummaged through his pockets before finding the packet he was after.

The other man looked at him dumbfounded, even with a mask to conceal his eyes. “For years?”

The redhead only shrugged as he kept looking through his pockets, stopped by Jason handing him a metal lighter. He gave his friend a nod in thanks before seemingly remembering something, “Ah, and I don’t go by “Speedy” no more. Arsenal, or Roy to buddies.”

Dick straightened up a little. “Was “Arsenal” in on the last slaughtering?”

Roy took a cigarette out of the packet and put it between his lips. Covering it with both hands as he tried to light it.

Seeing his friend using the excuse to get out of the conversation, Jason reluctantly spoke up in their defense. “It wasn’t some random slaughter, but a well-planned attack on some awful criminals. Who, by the way, were planning to leave way more bodies than we did. So, in actuality, we reduced the lives lost and saved a shit ton of people.”

The redhead huffed a laugh, putting the metal lighter in his own pocket. Dick glared at him as he took the thing between his fingers and blew smoke out. “You should in fact thank us. Cleaning up your city and all.”

“I should thank you for killing nearly thirty people?” Dick asked almost in disbelief.

The two only shrugged and Roy took a new puff. He knew it made him look more chill, even if the nicotine was to help him calm down his jittering nerves.

Dick tried to stare them down, not sure what he wanted answered first. He straightened up and crossed his arms. However, the two friends pointedly looked anywhere but at him.

With a helpless sigh he slumped his shoulders and let his head fall. “Why do I even bother?”

He was sure Jason was smiling smugly under his mask as he answered in a singing voice: “’Cause ya love me.”

Dick lifted his head again. “This is not a joking matter, Jay! You’ve left a lake of blood in your wake.”

The teen cocked his head. “Does that mean ya’re not joinin’ in our celebration?”

Nightwing frowned at his younger brother. “I’m not celebrating manslaughter!”

Stepping to the side, Roy leant on his friend. “No need to, you can just come for the beer.”

A growl sounded deep from Dick’s throat. Like hell he was just letting them go on partying after what they’d done.

Then he noticed the slight flinch that his brother was so clearly trying to cover up by continuing the motion that ended with him resting his hands on his hips.

Roy clearly picked up on it as well and shifted so he didn’t lean on the teen anymore. He kept facing Nightwing, but the vigilante was sure he wanted to glance over to the teen as well.

Dick stood stock still, looking at his brother for a while before softly groaning. He stepped forward, slowly raising his arms. When close, he rested his hands on the teen’s stiff shoulders.

Jason was breathing heavily under the helmet. Deep shaky breaths. Dick wondered when it had begun, but knew he likely was what set his brother off today.

Roy had stepped back, more than a little confused. “What’s going on?”

Not looking over, the vigilante hummed but didn’t answer. “Water at his place tastes crap. Could you pick up a bottle at a store?”

That didn’t clear anything up for the redhead, but when looking at his rigid friend he only nodded.

\----

“EAT MY FUCKING BLUESHELL, BIG BIRD!”

Dick’s eyes went wide as he somehow tried to shake off the unavoidable. “NOOOOoooooooo!”

A baby Bowser crossed the finish line on screen and Roy jumped to his feet with a cheer. Jason snorted at the two men’s antics from where he was laying on the couch. One dramatically happy, and one dramatically depressed as he pretended to sob into the carpet he was now laying on.

A ring came from the kitchen and the teen stirred, getting up.

“Easy there, little wing. I’ll go get it.”

“I’m not letting ya cereal ass of a walkin’ catastrophe near mah kitchen with a ten-foot pole.” Jason shot back as he strode to the oven. Roy snickered at his friend’s comment, earning himself a slap on the arm from Dick.

A minute later, Jason was back with a pizza wheel and their steaming food. “Controllers down, dipsticks. I dun want them greased over with ya slippery fingers.”

They did as ordered, and Roy put on some random music video before taking his piece.

The three sat together around the low table in the living room, chatting and joking. Roy was telling of his adventures after skipping Star city and the two brothers were marveling at how unlucky the guy seemed to be, meeting with one problem after the other.

“Dude, your landlord threw you out before setting the police on you? What did she even report you for? The drugs?” Dick asked as the last slice was stolen by the youngest in the room.

Roy huffed and looked away. “Littering and indecent exposure.”

Disappointment in his muffled tone, Jason talked with his mouth full: “Bro. I dun even wanna know.”

“I do.”

The two others looked at Dick for a moment.

“What? I’m literally a cop in my civi life, I know how often we just ignore reports of littering.”

Jason snorted. “Sure, that’s totally the part ya wanted to know ‘bout.”

It took a second, but the teen could soon see his brother’s cheek getting dusted in pink.

“Wha-you little! Get your mind out of the gutter.”

Roy and Jason snickered at the frustrated man.

“I don’t know, blue bird, you were pretty early on the dating scene.” Roy mused as he swirled the drink in his glass. “I’m not surprised that you can’t resist the beaty of Arsenal.” He punctured with a wink.

Dick felt a shudder creep up his spine. “Is this where I remind you that we used to call each other brothers?”

Shrugging, Roy smiled as he sipped at his glass. “You mean that “vigilante family” thing, where we named everyone on the Justice League as either an aunt or uncle?”

Dick raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, except Green Arrow who’s your dad.”

“Nah-ah. I thought we agreed that he was no more my hero-dad than anyone else.”

“Bro, please.”

Jason held in his laughter as he watched the two grow increasingly animated. Dick lent over the table and Roy used his foot to push him back.

~bibi~

Jason froze as the sung words slipped into his mind.

~dance with me~

Glancing over he took in the unfamiliar sight of some simple CGI dolls in pastel colors singing and dancing on screen.

~Habibi~ ~Habibi~

Jason’s eyes widened. The words twisted into a sturdier voice. “What progress have you made, Habibi?”

“Habibi”

~Habibi~

The teen looked at the unsettling dolls dancing on screen. There was one in blue. Wrong. There was one in purple that also felt wrong. And one in pink that just didn’t make sense.

There should be another color. Something darker. Something more venomous.

Their eyes were wrong. They should be green.

Jason sat up straight and glared at the screen. Not watching anymore. Green eyes called his Damian habibi. Someone with green eyes.

He tried to remember more but muffled sounds started circling his mind and light sept into his eyes.

“-and only THEN did Olly dare come down.”

The boy started to shift back to the present again. Roy’s voice filtered through his mind. On screen was some giant clawed monster singing and shaking its shell.

Jason opened his mouth, but no words came out. His throat was dry and tongue heavy.

“SHIIINY~!” The teen startled as his brother burst out beside him. “Like a treasure from sunken pirate wreck~”

“Boooh. You suck!” Roy theatrically shouted as he threw a handful of popcorn at the younger man.

A giggling Dick “hid” by snuggling into Jason’s side. “I’m a rising star! The next Beyoncé!”

“You’re a disgrace to the very concept of music, that’s what you are.”

The black-haired vigilante huffed at the insult. “Rude much. You don’t have to be such an ass just because you don’t have my kind of talent.”

“A talent to make ears bleed?” Roy joked and fished out his phone that had been vibrating for some time.

Dick pulled his feet up on the sofa as he leant further into his brother. “Jeeze, why does it sound like you’re recycling insults from the web?”

“Wrong way ‘round. I give people their first degree burns and the next day it’s the hottest thing on any and all platforms. You know, ‘cause some people have actual talents.”

The younger man huffed amused. “Let me guess, you bought followers to boast your ego and pay them to spread your misspellings and 2am tweets?”

“You’re one to talk. Yours do nothing but praise you. Clearly 80 percent bots.” Roy mumbled, face buried in his phone.

“Nope, never payed anyone a penny there. The good simply recognize good. So mine would obviously be the ones to praise good work, aka. mine, and stand against injustice.”

“They sure do stand in protest.” Roy confirmed without looking away from his screen.

Confused, the vigilante tilted his head. “Okay, I’m not following.”

The phone was soon facing him, showing an open page on twitter.

“I just said that I beat your ass, and your followers are already trying to hound me and threatening me from, and I quote; “not touch a single of his juicy bones”.”

Dick grimaced at the comment. Deciding to read the original tweet instead of wading into the dangerous water of his fans. The handle written Roy was with caught his eye.

“Wait. Jay, since when did you get on twitter?”

Jason looked down to find his brother’s pouting face. “Why didn’t you ever tell me? I would have followed you in a heartbeat.”

His lips parted slightly but stopped. The teen knew he wasn’t quite there yet. Instead he took a deep breath through his open mouth, trying to get back to normal faster.

“Jason?”

Dick shifted away. Sitting up to get a proper look at his brother. Noting that the teen’s eyes were still turquoise and clear.

Roy went to refill the boy’s glass and Dick rubbed his arm, giving him time.

Jason took a last deep breath, noting it was steady and calm.

“s n account for Red Hood, ya know? Bus’ness stuff.” His voice was low, but even.

The teen accepted the offered glass of cold water and gulped down half of it in one go.

Dick raised an eyebrow. “The Red Hood needs to make his deals and shootings public?”

Jason didn’t answer, so Roy continued the conversation. “It was mostly created to get in contact with R. I assume you know about “R for redemption” that’s been acting as a broker for the hero world?”

The bat nodded.

“Welp, that R sent Jason the name of an account and a password in a mail. On it, Jay can post whatever question he has for the world to see, and R has a tendency to send information that’s suspiciously closely related in the next mail.”

Dick’s eyes widened and he whipped his head to his brother. “You communicate with them?”

A smile graced Jason’s lips as he nodded.

“And you didn’t tell anyone?”

The smile turned into a small smirk. “I told Roy.”

Dick pulled on an act of utter betrayal, hand on hearth and gasping. “You were my brother, Anakin.”

That got a snort out of the teen and sent Roy laughing. The man let them have their fun, but soon wiped the smile off his face.

“Really, Jay, why didn’t you tell?”

Jason shifted and looked to the floor. “It’s n account for Hood. The crime lord in the makin’.”

Dick nodded at the repeated info.

“You dun like that I kill.”

Dick didn’t nod. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on or where his brother was going, so he waited for him to continue.

Seeing that his brother however had gone silent, didn’t help his case. Jason was obviously nervous, he didn’t look up and had his face set into an hard mask.

The elder bat took a silent breath. “No, I don’t. But I like you. We’re family, little wing. We are bound to disagree, but we can still work it out.” 

Jason set his shoulders and glanced back to his brother. “Were you not angry? About yesterday.”

Dick huffed a soundless laugh. “Yes, and I hate what you do… but I can never hate you.”

Now fully looking over, the teen’s lips were close to curving up. “That mean you’ll just hang with me when I’m covered in blood?”

Dick huffed again, not a laugh this time. “It means that, as awful it is, I believe you had a better reason than “gaining territory”. Even Talia herself admitted that neither death or torture could beat the good out of you. I may not agree with your methods, at all, but I want to understand.”

The two brothers kept eye contact, gaze only turning warmer. That was until they heard a fake cough.

“Yeah sapps, I’m still here. But if you’re gonna continue that shit I’d rather not be.”

Dick started with a startled giggle, and the two were soon laughing again, pushing some of the strained atmosphere out of the room.

\-----

Later

Dick was stretched out on the sofa. Roy had left them a few minutes ago after helping Jason explain some of the tings they did and why.

“So, what lead you to believe you could find the kid following the smuggling ring?” The man asked, looking over some of the newspapers in a slightly new light.

Jason didn’t slow his typing as he answered: “They take kids from different part of the world, Damian was taken from his island west for Asia. Someone must be bat shit crazy to go against Ras, like 40 percent of Gothamites.”

The man glanced over skeptically. “That’s not really enough to start an investigation.”

A hum came from the teen before he spoke. “It’s something. Besides, Roy told me to get my ass up and do something. Even if I don’t find him among them, I’ll still get to free those children from the hell those bastards put them in.”

Dick looked back to the paper in front of him. “Smart man, that Roy.”

A grin painted Jason’s lips. “Apparently you don’t know the guy who mixed his wall-paint and banana smoothie too well.”

Dick’s head whipped back to his brother and he mirrored the sly grin.

“Oh, please do spill the tea.”


	8. Mission going swimmingly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1) I have realized that have have no idea how twitter works.., nor much else in life  
> 2) I am so sorry I haven't replyed to any comments latly. internet is not something I've had a lot of connection with lately  
> 3) enjoy the chapter

Bruce closed the door to his office behind himself. Dragging the knot in his tie a little loose as he waded over the floor. Stacks of paper occupied his desk and he felt his jittering nerves slightly hum as he encircled them to sit.

On the surface, all of them looked like normal work documents. Entailing stock prices and dealings. However, Bruce had gone through several similar stacks in the past week only to take an abnormally large amount of breaks because of their contents.

He took the closest stack to his right and flipped through it. About fifteen pages in he found one. The man laid down what he’d flipped through to only look at that one sheet that stood out. It seemed to be a screenshot of a tweet this time with a few accompanying replies.

Bruce frowned at the text. There had been many like it, or rather many screenshots like this, although the content seemed to wary greatly. Sometimes it was tweets thanking the teen, others from the teen’s apparent account. Most of them painted the boy in a better light than this one did, but reading the comments below Bruce could see this was the story of Jason helping a drug dealer after she’d been double-crossed and stabbed. Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose when he realized that the teen had only mentioned the stabbing after being questioned online.

The man read through it twice before opening a drawer to his right. Under a thin perm, was another stack of papers. The very top sheet shoving a newspaper clip of a few children in blankets near some police cars and half an article. The paper had added one of the children’s drawing of a man in a brown jacket and the skin of his head red.

Bruce sighed as he flipped through more sheets of mostly pictures and placed the new one on top of where the tweets were bounded together in the stack. He was pretty sure that whoever got his employees to unwittingly print this out in between their documents to their boss was the same who called themselves “R for Redemption”. The man had originally agreed to let their mysterious hacker keep their secret identity, but this started to become harassment.

Bruce could for the past week hardly get Jason out of his mind for more than a minute. He hated the guilt and sorrow that plagued him in some of those moments when he once again got reminded of his teenage son being alive and active.

Every grainy picture of a red helmet in between his document had Bruce frustratingly having to meditated in the middle of his own office. He wouldn’t say he was bad with feelings, he just preferred them not interfering with his work or- anything.

Bruce tried to pull himself together. He had work to do, and he couldn’t stay after hours this evening. Not today.

He held in another sigh. This was going to be an emotionally trying day. And likely an even worse night.

\-----

Jason was standing on the edge of a roof overlooking a few warehouses. He was trying to stand as still as possible, back straight and arms tense by his side.

He wanted to move, look more relaxed and carefree, maybe tap his foot or finger, but his every digit felt stiff and frozen.

His every sense was on edge. He heard every rustle of fabric. Gaze shifting to every little shadow he saw moving.

All this because of the man next to him.

He wanted to condemn Grayson for putting him up to this.

The Batman stood hidden in the shadow as he looked down to their targets below. Jason had barley given them any thought. He knew who they were and what they did, but it didn’t seem to matter. All that seemed to matter was the slight shifts of the man beside him. His breath, the turn of his head, when he lent slightly to one side.

They hadn’t talked yet, and the teen found the longer they stood there in silence, the more he dreaded what the first words out of the bat’s mouth might be.

Another minute ticked by in the eerie silence and Jason was wondering if it would go unnoticed if he fished out his phone and got on Twitter.

He wouldn’t say he was becoming dependent on the broker, but R usually got him at least something useful. Even if his tweets sometimes were a little too vague, at least according to Roy. Apparently writing just a few words, not full sentences, and then decoding them could get a little confusing as they sometimes could be decoded into completely different words if you didn’t know the relevance.

The Hood’s slowly growing followers seemed to be either annoyed or truly enjoy theorizing about these secret messages. Jason already had to switch coding three times as eager brains had gotten them right and posted about it for anyone to see. The teen found it fun and always affirmed that they had gotten the codes right.

Still, R seemed to somehow get it. Like he knew Jason or could read the future to know what situations would be important to deal with.

The teen was slightly hoping for the informant to just bail him out if it turned south, even without a tweet. Or maybe just a #TrappedInAnAwkwardSituation

The raven black cape shifted, and Jason whipped his head around as quick as he could in the helmet. Bruce stood up and brough out his grappling hook.

The man whispered in his gravelly voice: “I’ll take McCance and his men, you go for Russo.”

‘Nice conversation’ the teen though sarcastically as he zeroed in on one of the two split groups. They weren’t new in town, but they were novice at being criminals. Jason could even see they still used the number plate the police were on the lookout for.

“Take them down before they get back to their base, and remember-“

“Yeah, yeah. No killing. I’ll keep it clean.” Jason cut him off and ran for the edge to their left, building speed to jump to the next roof.

Even when he was punching the first man in the face, half a mile away, he couldn’t shake the shadow of Batman that followed in his mind.

Shit- that was a tooth coming out of the woman’s mouth. Bruce was not going to like that.

No. No, Bruce didn’t care much as long as they could still breathe at the end of the day. Hypocrite. Still, Jason held back his punches a little more.

Aaaand- that was the firearms being brought out.

The two guys that had gotten a little further away had reach a black car on the harbor. They had gotten the trunk open and were now cocking a rifle each.

Without much time for though, Jason took a few steps back, hiding in the shadow of an alleyway. They had their aim at the opening soon, but the teen had already gotten out a silent grappling hook and were almost at the roof when the bullets started to rain against brick walls.

At the top, Jason surveyed the streets. It was only the two gunmen and one last man that was running up to them left standing. No, not one last man. Jason squinted as he looked at the moving figure. A teen, no older than himself if not younger.

Jason pulled out his guns, glad for once that he had replace the full metal coats with hard rubber. Four shots, and the gunmen where on the ground, clutching their knees. Two more shots and the rifles were out of the way, one falling into the water.

Seeing them incapacitated, Jason stood up and jumped off the edge.

They were still on the ground when he came up to cuff them, even if they had tried to get up and away. Jason cuffed one and went to the other who were opting for crawling away.

The vigilante wondered, as he stepped hard on the crawling man’s hand, if maybe even the rubber bullets were a little too hard hitting. He could see little specs of red on their pants, telling him that three of the bullets had broken skin.

Would Bruce give him an earful later about using guns? The hypocrite that left men with concussions and broken bones? Likely.

Jason was just never what the bat wanted after all. Never good enough. Not as perfect as the first Robin. Easily replaced by a newer model as soon as he left. And even when he found a way that worked for him and showed results, it was the wrong way. Not what the dark knight wanted. Not who the man cared for.

Jason gritted his teeth, pushing down the green claws that started to burn just under the skin. Instead he concentrated on the whimper from the man below him as he forced him to sit up with his newly added cuffs.

The man spit on the red helmet, but Jason paid him no more mind. Rather he stood up as he realized he had lost track of the young teen.

The harbor looked deserted, save Jason and the people he’d knocked down. There was quite some distance from the car they were with and any buildings. Even so, the Hood couldn’t pick up any running feet or see the shadow of the boy fleeing in the dim lighting. And there weren’t many directions the kid could have gone in, considering they were parked right next to half a mile with unbroken water on one side.

That’s when he heard some slight shuffling from nearby. In fact, if he had to guess, just from the other side of the dark vehicle.

Jason put one gun back in its holster, freeing his left hand again. “Okay, kiddo. By now ya should realize what bad idea it is to play with the big boys.” He kept his voice low as he got to the back of the car. Peering slightly into the open trunk, finding it still filled with rifles and guns. These guys had prepared for the deal going south it seemed.

Jason moved on, getting ready to turn the corner. “Ya best shot would be to turn yaself in, blink ya eyes and hope the coppers take pity on ya.”

A twisting step forward and he was aiming his gun straight down at a stricken kid. Wide eyes looked fearfully into the barrel as the boy pushed himself stiffly back into the car.

“What will it be? Bullet or can you just get in the cuffs?” the older said (only slightly bluffing) as he gestured to a last pair of handcuffs he had visibly hanging of his belt.

The boy gulped as he finally tore his gaze from the gun and fixated it on the metal trap. “I- I… p-please don’t shoot.” He stammered.

Jason gave him a moment, not moving, and the young teen scrambled to find his footing. He stood up shakingly as he kept his flittering eyes on the figure in helmet. His eyes went from the cuffs, to the gun, to the helmet, the free hand, the boots and back to the hand on the gun.

“Get to where ya friends are waitin’ for their lift with the blue and red blinkin’ cars, and ya can tell me why ya didn’t stay a good son.”

They boy’s head whipped up as he looked into the white slits of the helmet. “You- you can’t! You can’t tell my ma about dis. She-.”

“Should’ve though bout that before you got chummy and working with mah targets.”

Jason gestured for the teen to go around the car, but instead the kid took a shaky step back.

“I- I only ran some errands. I- I never did nuthing.”

The Hood nodded as he again gestured for the boy to walk the other way. “Then ya shouldn’t have anything to worry ‘bout.”

The teen only went back another step. “No, you dun understand. She’ll flip if she knows.”

“Kid-”

“No. Please. I swear I’ve dun nuthing.”

“Hey, kid.”

“I just wanted some work. Please, dun tell her.”

The teen had taken half a step back with every sentence, and without noticing

“KID!”

He was at the edge, and then over it. He didn’t see the waves before he was falling to them.

Jason quickly holstered his gun has he lounged forward. Sprinting after the boy as he heard the splash.

It was dark out, and even worse to see down through the water. Hood could barely make out the big circles that got interrupted by numerous bubbles of air springing to the surface.

“Shit.” Was the last thing he just managed to whisper before he jumped and dived in.

‘Easy.’

The harbor might have been dim, but the water was truly dark. Cold quickly seeped under his armor and over his skin, sending freezing waves up and down his spine. He could hardly see the gloved hands in front of himself as he sunk further into the heavy deep, kicking his feet to follow the trail of escaping air.

‘Easy. It’s just water.’

It was getting harder and harder to move. His heavy belt and helmet along his armored clothing continued to pull him down, and he felt like he somewhat lost control of where he was going.

‘Just water.”

He sank further and further in the darkness, giving up swimming at this point, just sinking. He could see nothing below. It was all just nothingness.

Green nothingness of scorching pain.

‘No! just water. Normal water.’

A moving shadow appeared under him, and he quickly kicked off to get to it. A little closer and he recognized the shadow as a small hand flailing in panic.

Jason reached out as he noticed his limbs felt stiff and hard. His lungs were burning, and his hearth was loud enough he could hear it through his helmet and water.

‘Gotta reach-‘

His fingers stretched for the moving hand and he felt them graze against the boy’s for half a second. Jason reached and kicked his feet and finally he was close to the boy’s hand. As he grabbed it, the smaller hand instinctively grabbed his back and was soon frantically joined by another. Jason pulled the younger teen close till he was firmly against his chest.

The vigilante turned and found they were already at the bottom. He planted his feet on the murky ground, making a cloud swirl up around their feet. He quickly moved his free hand to unclasp his heavy belt, taking a small capsule out in the same movement.

Jason bent his knees and kicked off, pushing himself up as the boy clung harder to him whilst moving so irregularly that it could almost have been taken for intense trembling. The capsule in his hand fizzled and started to rapidly expand in his iron grasp.

‘Soon over’

The capsule was now in the form of a big donut, and without moving it, the Hood’s hand shot up. Pulled over his head by the growing tech. It soared forward to the dim light Jason was just able to spot up ahead and dragged him up with it.

Jason instinctively gasped for air as he broke the surface. Regretting it soon as water swam into his mouth and pushed down his throat.

‘No’

He tried to cough it up but found air being stuck in his throat. As he gaped under his helmet, still filled with some water, he focused on tying the heaving boy to the floaty. The young teen was now thrashing his arms again and kicking his feet in panic. It was a struggle, especially as Jason started feeling lightheaded and found moving his body to start feel somewhat alien, but he got the boy secured.

‘Gotta-‘

‘water-‘

‘green-‘

His head swirled. Or his mind. He wasn’t sure. Everything started to spin and dim even more.

Suddenly he felt something heavy over his head. A hand on his helmet was pushing him down. Pushing him under. Down into the awful water.

It soon left, but Jason didn’t feel himself float up. He was still in the water, maybe sinking. He flailed his arms and kicked his legs, but he didn’t move. He was trapped in the dark. Invisible bindings held him still and he kicked even more, feeling the terror creep up his spine and take over his mind.

He kicked and grasped for anything, no longer knowing which way was up or down. The invisible bindings only got tighter and harder and the teen felt his limbs growing heavy and slow.

‘Nononono’

‘no’

‘no…’

‘…help’

‘someone, help’

The teen’s mind searched for someone to get him out. R always seemed to have the answer or a good advice. Dick would always stick up for him, as his brother and family. Roy had become a good friend, an actual friend with a helping hand. Tim, the sweet boy who always tried his best, and then some, for others. Alfie who seemed able to do everything despite his frail and harmless looks. Damian, his teacher, his cherished guide to himself, who would sit beside him and give him everything he needed just by being there.

But he was not. No one was there. No one was there for the screwup vigilante.

Jason could only feel ice cold flames claw inside his lungs as his swirling light head pressed in on itself with heavy pounding. His chest felt like it was exploding, being shredded and numb all at once. The final light was extinguished, and there was nothing but darkness left.

The teen stretched out his arm, maybe holding onto a hope that he will grab onto something. Hoping to reach the surface and escape the liquid prison. But his fingers felt nothing as he faded out.

All his life’s pains replayed in his mind as his limp body just existed in the water. Cuts. Slashes. Broken bones. His wrist being encircled. Shots. Burns. His body being pulled through thick liquid. Freezing cold. His body heavy. Something under his legs and back, holding him up. Shivering cold. Burning lungs. The ground under him.

Jason was sure he heard a click as his body felt a little lighter. ‘Is this how leaving one’s body feels like?’ he wondered as he started thinking less about pain, but the feelings simultaneously starting to seem more real.

“-lad”

Jason’s foggy mind was wondering if that was a voice he heard. Maybe he would start hearing some dead relative calling for him soon. The teen, entertaining the thought, dearly hoped that it wouldn’t be his waste of a dad or any of that trash’s friends. In that case, Jason would happily refuse to pass on peacefully, and keep haunting people as a ghost or waste eternity in some limbo.

“Jay-lad.”

‘Hnn... Sounds like Bruce.’ he though as he started to feel like he was leaning against something warm. He didn’t know what it was, but he was so cold, and it was not. He wanted to chase it, to feel the warmth, and tried to push himself into it.

“Jay-lad… please! Stay with me.”

The teen grunted lowly as he let his mind slip. Letting sleep wash over him and succumbing to the darkness. Not fearing it this time but welcoming its comfort.

\----

“-eep”

“Beep”

“Beep”

The first thing Jason felt was annoyance. He was not fully rested, and therefore found any sharp sounds waking him an unnecessary existence in need of being removed.

The teen tried to take a deep breath in the morning when he was stopped. He couldn’t breathe. Something was in his mouth and pushed down deep in his throat. His chest was moved, up and down. Filled, but not by him.

Jason flimsily flailed his arms as he tried to grab for whatever was obstructing him. He reached something and it felt cylindrical and plastic. He went to pull at it, but felt it movements all the way down his throat.

Adrenalin started pumping in his veins as panic started to seep into his mind. He shot his eyes open, but only got blinded by the strong light.

“Jay-lad!”

Jason heard whoever shouted sprinting to him and felt even more than before the need to free himself of whatever contraption was pushed into him and forced his lungs to move without the teen’s control.

“Calm down, sport.”

He felt something strong gently press down on his chest, grounding him. He finally noticed he was laying on a hard mattress. And getting a little used to the light he saw the figure of a man over him. He was still trying to pull at the plastic, but his hands were taken off and he felt panic veld up again.

“Take it easy. It’s to help you breathe. Give me a second and I’ll remove it.”

‘Help breathe?’ Jason finally realized that what was pushed down his throat was a tube and then realized what it and the apparatus it was hooked to was for. It didn’t really make it any more comfortable knowing about it. Having a machine breathe for him was an awful feeling, and he just couldn’t seem to sync up with it.

He looked instead back to the man. To Bruce.

The bat was still in Kevlar but had gotten rid of the cowl and gloves. His hair was greasy and messy, and the bloodshot in his eyes brought out the warmer tones of his blue irises.

The man moved quick and purposefully as he worked with his hands.

“This is going to feel a little uncomfortable.”

Jason hardly got the meaning of the warning words before he felt the tube down his throat being pulled. And Bruce was right, that was not anything Jason ever wanted to feel again. It didn’t hurt, it was just intrusive and awful and Jason though he was more comfortable being shot in the leg. But that may say more about him.

The tube was finally out, and he was free to breathe again. Air, beloved air.

Jason fixated at the feeling of his lungs breathing at his own pace, from his own will. Relishing in the newfound freedom.

“How are you doing, sport?”

The teen brought his attention back to the man. The blue eyes looking at him seemed to hold raw emotion, and it scared Jason to see it. To see the worry. The care. The regret. The hurt.

Jason tilted his head slightly as he wondered what the man could be so worried about. So worried that he’d rid himself of his many masks, leaving him now open.

Could it be that the mission had failed because of the teen? Failed by his mistakes and incompetence. Was all of these emotions caused by a failed mission and the disappointment Jason proved himself as?

Jason looked back down to his legs covered in a heavy blanket. He tried to replay what had happened with the mission.

He and Bruce had split, leaving Jason on his own against a few novice ruffians. Nothing really considerable had happened till a small part of the group had managed to find some firearms. The teen knew Bruce hated guns, and at that time Jason had fired off several shots with his own, even if it was rubber bullets. Maybe that had made the bat mad. Annoyed at all the bullets that had rained unnecessarily. Now ready to chastise Jason for the episode and injuring two men by shooting them. They had bled from it after all. Jason had shot them.

The teen risked glancing up at the man again and he was met with the same evoked eyes. Jason quickly looked away, but the moment had left him question his theory. After all, that was not really the eyes of an angry man ready to yell his lungs out. Instead, the bat almost seemed concerned. But for what? Or who?

Flashes of a young teen falling at the harbor shone in Jason’s mind. Could it be him? No, it must be him. The bat cared for innocent children after all. Not someone unhinged like Jason, but someone like the kid who had been so worried about his mom that he hadn’t noticed how close he got to the water.

A boy he made fall into the dangerous waves, only because the kid had run some errands for adults going down a dark path.

Jason shuddered at the reminder of what happened after. Cold water engulfing him. Keeping him down and not letting him go.

‘Shit’ Had the kid survived? Jason was sure he had gotten him up and secured so he wouldn’t go under. But after the boy had repaid the favor by pushing him under, he hadn’t known what may have happened to the kid. Was he not secure enough and got swallowed by the waves?

‘Shit’ was that what this was about? Jason had failed to hold his promise not to kill in the worst possible way. He alone had caused a young boy to fall victim to the sea. He had killed a child.

Jason wanted to shrink in on himself. He felt a heavy lump pulling his chest down. He had killed an innocent kid and the bat knew it. Bruce knew it and Jason would deserve anything he threw at him for it. Even... even if he threw him out of the family. Tim couldn’t be brought up with a brother that killed innocent kids after all.

He was going to lose them. He screwed up, and now he was going to lose everything.

“Jay-lad. Are you ok? Do you need something?”

The teen shakingly looked up again. He saw back into the blue eyes and they somehow seemed even more concerned and worried. The look really sent Jason into a spiral of confusion. It wasn’t angry, didn’t even have a hint of it, just… caring.

“Wha-” Jason rasped, wanting to speak, but found his throat dry enough that he felt it would start tearing if he talked much more.

The teen shook it off. He deserved to feel the pain. He deserved it all. But he had to at least apologize. Even if it meant nothing to the bat.

“Sorry.”

Jason’s eyes widened in surprise. He looked at the man who had just spoken and the blue eyes seemed to glisten.

He strained to first properly fill his lungs. “Wh-whyh?” the teen managed to press out.

Bruce was standing slightly bent forward. His arms strained by his side as he tightened his fists. “This happened because of me.” The words being more gritted as he spoke.

Jason was even more confused than before. Instead of straining his vocal cords, he hoped that cocking his head would be enough to get the message of uncertainty across.

“At the harbor…” The man started, but quickly let the sentence die of.

The silence rang tick and the teen got more and more worried about what the man implied. He tried to swallow, but even that hurt his throat. Still he opened his mouth to speak: “The kid… what happ’?” Dread soon pooled in his veins, knowing that he soon would know for certain how bad he failed.

He only noticed that he had closed his eyes when they shot open, searching for what had been so carefully placed on his hand. There, on his limp one was Bruce’s own warm hand resting on top.

“He is fine.”

The teen looked up and met the icy blue eyes, now filled with warmth.

“You saved him, Jay-lad.”

Jason took a second to let what the man had said settle in.

“Oh.”

Bruce had a small smile and the it made the teen’s chest fill with warmth that slightly pulled on his hearth.

So, he turned away.

“Another kid saved by the Red Hood. He wanted someone to relay a thank you.”

Jason raised a brow, ignoring the warmth in his cheeks. He still didn’t meet the man’s eyes, opting for looking at his shoulder instead.

“He didn’t really ask me for it, but I overheard him telling the police.”

A smile tugged at the teen’s lips. “Gu’ss the Bat’s too sc’ry f’r the kid.”

He heard the huff of laughter from the man and it was even harder to keep a straight face. “Guess so.”

After a moment, Bruce continued with a more somber tone: “When I came to the harbor, I could only see him out in the water.”

Jason clenched his left fist, the one Bruce wasn’t holding onto, noting that he was hooked up to an IV bag.

“When I realized what had happened. I froze.”

The teen turned his hand slightly, checking that the catheter was secure. Definitely Alfred’s handy work.

“I am so sorry Jason. I didn’t react right away and therefore lost vital seconds.”

The hand on his squeezed, and Jason could pick up a slight tremble. Keeping his eyes low.

“I- I am- “

Out of the corner of his eye Jason thought he saw something that looked like a small raindrop. Even more than before, he couldn’t dare look at the man’s face.

“I can’t lose you again Jay-lad.”

The teen stared at his covered feet once again. There ware some green flames starting to scratch in his chest and a part of him just wanted to let it loose. To let his anger and frustration take form and burst.

Bruce had made it clear to him that he hadn’t wanted him. As soon as he was gone, he was replaced. As soon as he was back, Bruce went out of his way to ignore him. The only communication they had had was either shouting or the man just condemning every fiber of the boy’s being.

Still, Jason held the flames down by force. Through a sore throat and gritted teeth he pushed out: “You hate me.” It was far from a question. Jason knew this. He didn’t accept this, but he knew it. He just couldn’t place what Bruce said with what he knew.

Bruce seemed to have frozen for a moment, but soon the hand was removed from where he’d warmed the smaller. The teen could see the hand still tremble some, if not more, as the man brought it back to his side and clenched it.

Jason let out a silent sigh. He guessed this was it. This was when Bruce dropped any pretense and just admitted to finding him a nuisance. The teen blinked hard and readied himself as Bruce opened his mouth.

“Jay-lad… I don’t hate you.”

A traitorous part of him wanted to believe the man, but he pushed it down and sneered instead.

“I am sorry. I know I have handled this badly. Handled us badly. But I have never since first meeting you, done anything less than care for you.”

Jason still didn’t look at him as he had to keep half a mind on pushing the clawing down.

“At the island, I came prepared to bring back the happy innocent kid that would antagonize the strongest of men just to lure them into a trap and laugh at them. … I was so caught up in my own emotions and stupidity.”

The teen grunted in confirmation.

“You’ve changed so much, and I didn’t even bother to get to know the new you. I didn’t help you when you needed it. I know it would be too much to ask right now, but if in the future you could ever bother to talk to someone like me… then I would like to get to know you.”

Silence rang for long in the room, neither breaking it. Jason was still so frustrated, but more so from the nerves and dread he had gathered ever since waking up. Believing he had messed up, gotten a kid killed and honestly believing that he would have everyone he knew now be ripped away from him.

It wasn’t like the nerves would just disappear when he still got so much emotional stuff thrown at him. It all kept adding up and melted into the fire the teen needed to try harder and harder to keep down.

But there was still something else there. Bruce had said he cared for him. Bruce wanted to know him. Jason wasn’t fully sure if it was just empty words, but he really wanted to believe in it. It was the little kid still in him, the bright Robin, that wanted to just throw away all the heavy anger and run into his “dad’s” arms.

Jason knew that kid was gone now. Even Bruce had admitted to it. But still-

“I lige to cook sm’tim’s.”

The teen could hear the man shifting and taking a deep breath.

“You like to cook?”

Jason nodded stiffly.

Bruce shifted a little closer. “And I have heard that you are making friends?”

Jason considered himself a saint for not mentioning how much of an awkward parent the man sounded. “One. H‘is sma’t n funny.”

A hand rested on the headboard of the bed Jason was laying in.

“Even more funny than you?”

The teen snorted. “No one’s m’r funny than me.”

Jason dared glace over and immediately found himself shook.

There stood Bruce, the big bad bat, with one trembling hand halfway covering his tight smile. Eyes spilling over with prickling tears.

The man quickly looked away when he noticed Jason’s eyes, trying to bring his hand further up to cover his face.

The teen was speechless. He had no idea how to react to this. He barley even noticed the flames in his chest dying down.

Once again the room was filled with silence.

Still looking away with half his face covered, Bruce spoke in a strained voice: “He is helping you?”

Jason numbly nodded.

The bat cleared his throat and put down his hand. His smile now subdued, and his tear-streaked cheeks wiped. Thought his eyes were still both red and red rimmed. “Even looking for a kid?”

Jason nodded again, a little surer this time.

“This kid… it’s your teacher isn’t it? Both Dick and Tim mentioned the teacher apparently looking like a toddler.”

Jason could swear it looked like Bruce was squirming. He blinked twice before he once again just answered with a nod.

“This teacher…” The man began, but trailed of as his voice cracked a little

Jason took a breath and looked back to his feet. “Dami… He told me his name was Damian.”

\------

Keeping his mask of pretence on, he refrained from loudly stomping into his office. Annoyance however got the better of him as he threw himself into the chair, rather than sitting gracefully down.

Alfred would disapprove, but then again he was the one that sent Bruce to work while his teenage son was still on bedrest.

The stacks of paper were already heaping on his desk. He took a few moments to only look at them. Staring them down.

He had finally talked to the kid. Althogh only after having seen the boy being on deaths door. And Jason wasn’t even in a state to talk. And-

Bruce slumped forward and rested his head in his hands. He wasn’t sure he dreaded or looked forward to the personal work he had to do. Sure he loved the kid, but … he really loved him. If he did anything wrong, if he made the teen think he hated him even more- how had that even started? He needed to consult with Alfred.

And maybe his other sons knew something. The three of them seemed to get on like a treehouse on fire doused in gasoline.

The man felt a smile tugging at his lips.

One of the few saving graces in this was how his boys-

Bruce looked up as he heard knocking on his glass door. The smile turned lax as he put on his billionaire playboy appearance for his assistant.

“Are you alright mr. Wayne? You seem a little out of it today.”

The CEO laced his fingers together and tilted his head with a practiced smile. “Sorry. Got a spontaneous visit yesterday. Just a little hungover.”

The assistant nodded, accepting the explanation. “Should I bring you something?”

“A glass of water would be lovely.” Brue smiled, glad to be left alone for the short time the worker would need to fulfill the new duty.

Normally he could breathe in this alone time, but the stacks of paper were calling out to him. The work wasn’t much, but the possibility of what could be hidden between the pages. Another picture? Another article?

Bruce sat back in his chair, emotionally preparing himself for the russian ruolett of paper.

He told himself he could start after he’d gotten his water. Giving himself a minute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Wondering how the tweet/picture is? Does it not show up or fit badly to phones or big screens? And ofcourse anything else. Just hope you got some enjoyment out of it.


	9. R's message

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter while Jason's healing

“Just one more round Alfie. Please?” Tim wined as he clutched his controller to the chest.

“No can do, master Timothy. Bedtime started nine minutes ago.”

The kid turned his pleading look up a notch by sticking out his bottom lip.

“Don’t even try it young sir. I have not raised three rascals before you only to fall for such manipulations. You have school in the morning and master Jason ought to do the resting he is supposed to on the bed.”

Said teen only smirked back as he hid a small dumbbell behind his back.

Tim pouted, but relented. He laid the controller next to himself on the carped floor, oblivious to the slight annoyance it brought to the other two that knew one of them had to clean up it and the snacks the kid had in three different bowls.

Standing up, the boy went to his brother still in bed. “Good night, Jay.” The kid lent in for a hug and the teen returned it, embracing the smaller boy. He hummed and sent the kid on his way. The boy trotted backwards out the door with a small wave.

“Now, master Jason. I expect that you take this time to get some proper rest. If not, I will extend your bedrest with another two days.”

Jason playfully pouted and batted his eyes at the stern butler.

“None of that. I am not swayed by it coming from young Timothy, and I certainly will not be affected by your childish tricks.”

The teen grinned and raised a challenging eyebrow. “Are ya sayin’ Tim’s cuter than me?”

At the question, the elder couldn’t help break out a kind smile. “Naturally. Now kindly shut up, your throat needs as much rest as you do.”

Jason huffed a laugh and laid down properly. He was going to pull up his covers, but then noticed the butler’s outstretched hand. The man raised an eyebrow and the teen sheepishly smiled as he handed the dumbbell over.

Alfred nodded and went to the door. “Goodnight, master Jason.”

The boy hummed in reply and closed his eyes as the light went out. He heard the footsteps leading away and soon chanced a glance, checking that the coast was clear.

Silently he sat up and slipped out a laptop from the bedstand. What Alfred didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.

The teen stilled as the machine was in the middle of starting up. Carefully he glazed back to the door, finding it still closed. He let out a soundless breath and looked to the screen with less bravo this time. He was glad the butler couldn’t read minds.

… he hoped the butler couldn’t read minds.

He decided that he would have to work faster than he first expected. Even if it’s just his own paranoia talking.

The teen quickly opened a browser and two files, preparing for some everyday multitasking. He read through the reports of his dealers and henchmen, both acting as his eyes and ears all over Gotham. He’d even started up some courses in self-defense, mostly for the vulnerable on the street, but it now helped a few of his guys to also take certain actions while he himself was bound to bed.

One wrote about stopping two guys from robbing a woman. Another, one recently out of prison, had helped a couple out of their apartment as it got burgled into and called the police, risking them identifying and investigating himself.

Jason would admit that it brought warmth to his hearth to read the few good deeds. Then again, he also had to read through a lot of “it was an accident” or “he shot first” reports to get to them. Even so, to see the stark differences that started to come about was a clear sign of improvement to the teen.

It was after he’d skimmed through a few of these and replied to Roy’s complaints about increased workload (“Though it up, cupcake.”) and finally logged on to his old mail. The one he only used for one certain sender.

There was nearly a week since he last got to check it, so he was a little worried that he’d missed something big. However, when he got to check his inbox there was only one from R that had been sent just last night.

He quickly deleted the new spam and opened it.

R’s messages were usually short and precise. There was never a “happy greetings” or “from your dearest”. It was just the information and “R for redemption”.

There wasn’t any greeting or goodbye this time either, but a paragraph of the message didn’t seem precise at first glance. Or the next. Or after Jason had pulled up a chart of the codes they had used.

He had been staring at the screen for a full fifteen minutes now. Staring at that one message.

He had re-read it and re-re-read it. He even tried reading it backwards to see if that helped, but that made even less sense.

Maybe if he tried to translate the letters to numbers and put them in order. Or maybe the code they used last month.

Nothing made sense. Why would someone care if Jason was “content with your surroundings” and “in a physical condition that would at least be considered sufficient for daily activities”? And what even was that last part? “Finding tolerable coping methods for psychological trauma”? Was that a link at the end of it to some self-help site?

The teen blinked slowly. He had no idea of what to make of R’s message. What could it be information of? Some new drug to change one’s physical condition and how one perceived one’s surrounding?

Jason got a new idea and opened a new tab, checking if any new criminals fit into whatever code was hidden in the paragraph. Sure, there were a few that could change their physical appearance, or even attack people’s psyche, but nothing really that made any more sense to the message.

The teen closed the tab and stared at the text again.

The message had also been sent to the justice league, save the last paragraph.

The league was only sent some coordinates, a date and a few names they were familiar with. Magicians it seemed this time.

Only Jason got the added text of “decency” and “improvement”.

He racked his brain but couldn’t get what code it was.

Only he got the text, meaning it must be something special to him. Something concerning him or his work.

The teen’s head suddenly shot up as he got a new though.

His surroundings. Sufficient physical condition. Coping methods for psychological trauma.

He held his breath when considering something, feeling his arms grow cold.

Was- was R threatening him?


	10. Disconnect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this chapter pure pandering? No, but not far from.

Jason groaned from his suffering. Alfred had caught him with his laptop and thus given him three more days of bedrest. A day extra added, from his previous threat of two days, after the teen in a moment of poor judgment mentioned his own death while attempting to plead his way out of bed.

Now he was on his last day of entraptment, that never seemed to end. Mostly because of his two merry guests.

“I swear, she was just about to grow horns and stab us with a flaming pitchfork.”

Roy snickered as Dick doubled over in laughter. Even Jason himself was grinning wide, despite trying to be annoyed with his situation.

It was the first time the redhead was in the mansion, but he managed to appear right at home quite fast. He had claimed the end of the bed while the older Robin was left with the chair and the floor, in which he of course had chosen the carpeted ground.

Jason forced down the creases of his mouth. “In all fairness, ya did lock her boyfriend in an elevator. With a chain, crayon and zip-tie.”

“Only because he wouldn’t answer my questions.” Roy shrugged.

The teen sighed and laid back in bed. “Why can’t I surround myself with normal people?”

“”Hey!”” both men shouted in fake offence.

Jason failed to hold the mask again, breaking out a tight smile. “I’m sure both of ya listen to crappy children’s songs before heading out to break some legs.”

Roy put a hand on his chest. “When have I ever played anything that’s not fire?”

The bedridden boy kept laying down but raised a brow. “Uh, literally last time the tree of us hang?”

The redhead crossed his arms and pouted. “It wasn’t my fault Lian had messed up my playlist.”

Both brothers gave out an outstretched “aw”, Dick folding his hands in front of him.

“It was Lian’s doin'? No wonder one was even deep enough to send me down memory lane.”

At the teen’s remark, Roy threw his hands up. “Sure, when you though it was me playing it, it was crap, but when you hear it’s her-”

Dick hid his smile behind his hands, but it didn’t cover up the shaking of his shoulders. Seeing him, Roy stole a pillow and threw it at the sitting man.

“Whey!”

The redhead grinned and sat relaxed back again. “What of Lian’s songs got you soul searching anyway? Was it the german one about der kleine crocodile? It sure reminds me of my old days of having a shitty mentor wanting me to retrieve his bow from an alligator infested swamp.”

Four eyes looked in disbelief at him before they slipped into realization and pity. Dick snorted and leant forward on his new pillow as he muttered “vigilante mentors”.

Jason looked longingly to the pillow, not that he needed it. (He had five more pillows in his bed, but still.) “Nah, it was the ‘habibi’ one for me. Tho I’m still surprised ya didn’t push Robin Hood in that swamp.”

Roy shrugged “Didn’t have fast enough reflexes yet.” Which made Dick perk up. “So, you tried?” Again the marksman shrugged in response before looking back to the teen.

“Don’t really think I remember much lyrics of the habby song. Lian only likes the one girl in it that looks like her favorite bedazzled nerf-gun.” The redhead murmurs as he looks to the ceiling. “What did it remind you of? Some pretty girl under red light?” he jokes.

Jason however didn’t consern himself with the jest, only looking to the ceiling in thought himself. “Damian.”

Dick sat up a little straighter and Roy glanced minutely over.

“Damian liked pastel dolls?” The brother tried, making Jason huffed out a half-laugh.

“No one in the league gets pastel dolls. Nah, I remembered someone callin’ him habibi. Couldn’t really think of who at first tho.”

Roy crossed his arms, still not fully looking over to his friend, wanting to seem casual. “Isn’t habyby a term of endearment? Like 'dear' or 'honey'.”

Dick nodded in answer. “Yeah, not really something you call your teacher or coworker.” He turned back to his brother. “You said you didn’t knew who at first. You figured it out later?”

Jason met his gaze. “I think so. I’m not really certain, but…” he trailed of, looking back up to empty space.

“I think it was Talia.”

Dick blinked and asked in a suspicious voice: “Cold hearted Talia that doesn’t show emotion to anyone she doesn’t care for? Anyone she doesn’t consider or want in her family?”

A nod of conformation and a minute of quiet later, the black-haired man was up and out the door.

Roy looked between the door and the teen. “Should we- Should I follow?”

Jason groaned quietly before he sat up. “At least one of us needs to.”

They didn’t get far however as Alfred stopped them in the hall. “And where may you be going, young sirs?”

The teen put all his will into keeping his brave mask and facing the raised eyebrow of the elder. “Dick’s gonna do somethin’ stupid.”

The butler’s eyebrow stayed raced as he looked between the two boys. “Then you better hurry.”

Apparently, they weren’t fast enough as they heard Dick’s yelling as soon as they entered the cave. And before they reached his side, the call had been ended from the other side.

The upset man spun to face the two. “None of my business? Can you believe her?”

Jason put his head in his hands. “I can’t figure out if you’re socially smart or a moron that just get lucky sometimes.”

Without looking up, he cut off Roy that had barely gotten to raise a finger and open his mouth. “No, that’s not what anyone means by ‘get lucky’ in this situation.”

The archer put down his hand.

Having taken a moment, Dick slumped his shoulders and let out a sigh. “Ugh. I’ll try to call her up.”

“Dick-”

“No, Jason. I know you want us to thread carefully and not show our hand, but this is vital information. We have to at least ask what their relations are, even if we skip the ‘why hide it’. You know how this works, the longer a kid is missing the less chance of them turning up… alive.”

The teen took a moment of contemplation, but soon turned to fully face the screen. “Since ya ‘ve already started. Might even add a few things I’ve been wonderin’ about.”

And so they called again. And again. And once more, but with no better luck.

“She’s ignoring us.”

“Ya figured?”

They left it at that and Dick tried the next day again. Then Jason two days after that. Then when they both were together a week later and hit call again, but didn’t come through.

Four days after that again, the tree brothers were together, having just trained together. Dick was stretching out in the corner while Jason got a bottle for the kid that laid sprawled out in the middle.

The boy was laying face down, talking into the mat as the teen walked up to him and squatted down.

“Ya have to repeat that, short stack. I dun speak floor.”

Tim turned his head and reached for the offered bottle. “I asked why we don’t just hack the assassin-meanies?”

Gripping the soles of his feet, stretching sitting, Dick grunted: “It’s risky. Pluss, al Ghul-money gets hard-ass firewalls that take hours to crack down. Days for non-bats to even try. We got to be really sure before going for it.”

The youngest turned slightly as he uncapped his drink. “Can’t we get some info on the other assassin kids that Wonder Woman brought back from the raid?”

Jason uncapped his own bottle of water with a frown. “Diana is pretty adamant about the aggressive goblins getting their psyche evaluation first.”

The eldest let go of his stretch and sat back. “Kinda glad we don’t have one like that to take care of, but yeah, would be great to have them here for some interogation.”

Tim fully rolled over so he could sit up a little, leaning on an elbow. He took a long gulp of water as he thought and finished with a small breath. “Think R could help us, Jay? Information seems to be his specialty.”

Both brothers looked to the teen. Meanwhile Jason seemed to be preoccupied with his own bottle. Uncapping it, then capping it just to uncap it again.

“Little Wing?”

Said boy sighed loudly. “I just dun think we should rely so much on somebody we know nothing ‘bout.”

Dick put his hands behind him to stand bridge, while keeping his eyes discreetly on the teen. “That why you haven’t been on twitter in a while?”

Forgoing answering, Jason rose and turned. “Givin’ random people on the internet my location and activities on a nearly daily basis was never a good idea to begin with.” he murmured as he left.

The two that’s left followed his retreating figure. After he disappeared out of sight, they looked questioningly to each other.

They left it at that and finished their break before going through some files and heading out on patrol as Bruce had joined them.

Tim had consulted the man about Jason’s behavior as they ran along the rooftops in the city, but the bat couldn’t give any answers. The boy wonder was visibly disappointed, and Bruce couldn’t leave it like that.

“It’s a quiet night, Robin. Why don’t we go over what you boys have found on the Damian-kid and maybe we could end it with a movie?”

Tim looked up to his adoptive father with big eyes behind his mask. “Sure. How about “I am legend”? I heard some of the dealers from the other day talk about it.”

The dark vigilante held in a sigh. “Please don’t take advice from the criminals we put behind bars.”

The boy sheepishly smiled with his hands folded behind his back.

Forcing his own face to stay stoic, Bruce went to overlook a road from the edge he was on. “I was thinking more along the lines of Ratatouille.”

Jumping to the edge and squatting, Tim imitated his mentor and looked out. “hmmm. I suppose it is popular enough amongst kids in my school. I guess I could have some use of seeing it. You never know who you need to manipulate.”

The man couldn’t contain his sigh this time. “I worry for you sometimes.”

Shrugging, Tim stood up and pulled out his grappling-gun. “One short round before we head back?”

Bruce shortly nodded before he was over the edge, Robin high on his heels.

\------

The morning sun shone through the thin gap in the curtains, chasing any chance of more sleep away.

Timothy turned over, holding his duvet tight. Finding his pillow hard and stiff and he had little space to move before he was at the edge of the bed.

“Mornin’ sleepy head.”

The boy cracked one eye slightly open and took in his surroundings. He seemed to still be in the first floor living room. He was looking right into the side of the coffee table, seeing the black TV-screen and carpeted floor. What he thought was the bed being the soft, narrow couch.

“As cozy as this is, ready to let go of me yet?”

Tim blinked up, clearing the fog from his eyes as he took in the older boy.

“Jaybwon?” he slurred as he stretched out, only then noticing that his arms were circling the teen’s warm body and his pillow was in fact a lap.

Said teen chuckled at his brother’s attempt to pronounce his name. The attempt that was shortly accompanied by the kid’s confused face, making Jason cover his mouth with his hand as to not fully burst into laughter at the small, scrunched nose and unfocused eyes.

Tim pulled his hands back, one at the time, and turned to lay on his back. “What time is it?”

Having control of his laugh, Jason moved his hand away from his face and used it to comb through the kid’s messy hair. “Just passed six, ya can still catch a few more Z’s. It’s barely three hours since ya fell asleep.”

Tim leant into the big hand, relishing in the seldom show of warm affection. “Nnnh. No point, already awake. I can get some extra work done instead.”

Sighing, the teen went from stroking the messy hair to ruffling it. “I worry ‘bout ya sometimes.”

The kid giggled as he grabbed Jason’s wrist with both hands, pushing it away. “You sound like Bruce.”

There was barely any time to react before Tim found himself on the carpeted floor.

“This is what I get for being nice? Betrayal! I demand a new brother.”

The dramatics shook Tim from his momentarily stupor and he burst into laughter. He was literally rolling on the floor laughing, face turning red. (maybe a little too hard)

Jason grabbed around his torso and lifted the kid to a sitting position. “Okay. Ya def’ need more sleep. It wasn’t that funny.”

The teen snuck an arm under the boy’s legs, one around his shoulders, and lifted him to his chest. “Bed it is.”

Still giggling, Tim looked over his brother’s shoulder as he was carried out of the quiet room. “Where he-he is Broose?”

“Down in da cave again. He’s keeping up with the new medical work Harley and Pamela has started in Burma.”

The kid hummed and leant further into his brother. “And you guys complain ‘bout me working a lot.”

Jason huffed. “Ya do. Besides, I just saw Alfie headin’ down there. Empty handed.” He whispered the last part.

“Fiiine. I don’t envy Bruce.”

Tim could feel the teen’s sniggers rumbling from his chest. “Nobody does. That’s just what he gets from forgoin’ sleep under this roof.”

The younger hummed again. “Pretty sure the two can keep from trouble in Myanmar for at least one more night. Bruce could do with resting his eyes some. That actually seems really nice. Closed eyes and warm duvets.”

Jason shifted the boy as he freed a hand to open the kid’s door. “I dun know. They have proven themselves to be pretty unpredictable. Harley especially.”

“Hnnn. Then maybe I should be up to keep an eye on them instead. Then dad could sleep.”

The teen looked down to his sleepy brother. “Did ya just call him-.” he decided to let it go and laid the kid on his mattress. “Ya would like to have Alfie going after ya instead?”

Tim frowned, refusing to open his eyes. “No.”

The kid felt the covers being pulled over him, and he grabbed it to wrap himself further into it. “I’ve already slept today... I should be working.”

A familiar hand stroked his hair. “Sure ya should. Why don’tcha get to that right after a short nap?”

Tim hummed and curled into himself. “Five mius.”

He barely registered that the hand retreated as he let his mind slip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm pretty much working on the ending of this and realising that some of the single sentences would make more sense as a paragraph or chapter as they are a little important for the story.  
> So yeah... the chapter is based on four sentenses and poorly tying the loose end with the 'habibi-scene'. (Three different small senarious all in all.) Hope it doesn't show.


	11. Harley's arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we're finally back to where I started to change the story. It's all back now

“Harley is back.”

It was six months into the investigation. They had been looking for a mysterious toddler for half a year without much luck. If anybody outside had known of it, it would probably be a blow to their reputation as great detectives.

They had only little information from the league of assassins, and it wouldn’t seem that they’d be getting any new soon. Talia had cut communication with them and they had stopped trying to call too often.

What they’d gathered from finding the boat was that it had first been used to transport Damian and whoever somewhere before it was sent unmanned to strand on the island in which it was found. Telling them that the island they found it on was a wild chase.

The boys had so little to work with that it was mostly just background noise at this point. Always there, always on at least one of their minds, but it was not enough to put their all into. A ringing in the back of their minds as they went on missions and protected Gotham.

They were mostly occupied with their own lives and vigilantism. Which is why they were gathered before patrol in the cave when Bruce strode down the stairs with the news of the unpredictable villainess.

Jason glanced at the figure as he continued going at the punching bag. “Really? She last’d longer than I expected. I was sure she’d be runnin’ back for her ‘puddin’ after the first week.”

Tim looked up from his screen. “I was certain she’d be forced back after causing some obnoxious mishap. She held out for quite some time. Do we know why she behaved so well? Or, what she’s back for?”

Bruce stopped in front of the big screens of the bat-computer. “Both her and Isley seemed to only be doing volunteer work in Myanmar. Quinn put her degree to use and worked as the village’s doctor, even medical, inviting nearby villages as well. When I went to interrogate, as you know, they only told me that they had gotten invitations and plane tickets in the mail. The invitations had convinced them. Quinn’s held the data on the villagers’ health and a few research papers from the medical field. Three days later they met on the plane and found they’d gotten the same invitation. I tracked the letters back to a bigger city in Myanmar, but the sender that day seemed to be a bribed errand boy, bribed earlier by another kid. Whoever sent them tried hard to cover their tracks.”

Dick dropped his own training and went up to the man. “And as of why she’s here?”

Bruce scowled before pulling up some pictures on the screen. “Joker.”

The pictures were all painted messages on walls and papers. All going along the line of: “Where are you Mistah J? Come out, come out wherever you are.”

Dick folded his hands together. “Ah, to be young and in love.”

“Isn’t she older than ya, dickhead?”

The older brother shrugged. “Never claimed that I was old. Besides, I spend so much time with Alfie that even Bruce looks young.”

The bat in question only raised an eyebrow at that. “I am afraid Harley is not back for love. She’s had a change of mind being abroad. Considering the destroyed apartments and warehouses that they’ve earlier used when together, I would conclude that she’s out for some vengeance.”

Tim looked up at the man with big eyes. “That can’t be good. Is she a threat to civilians?”

Bruce glared at the screen with arms crossed over his chest. “No one’s hurt yet, but she does not seem to consider her environment. Nightwing will talk to her, but the rest of us will keep an eye on her.” He turned to Dick. “See if she listens. If not, we will take her down.”

Dick nodded and turned on his heels, leaving the others.

Soon after Tim’s computer let out a small ringing sound. Looking down at it he tried to strangle down a smirk. “Looks like your secret lover knows about Haley, Jason.”

The teen had to physically face-palm. “Dick told you to call R that?”

“Maybe.”

Lifting his head, Jason let out a dramatic groan. “That… dick.”

Bruce held a hand up to discreetly cover his mouth. Tim however was less secretive about his mirth as silver trickles escaped his lips. “Way to be creative, Jay. Not sure that can even count as an insult.”

Jason grumbled as he went over to the other two. “What does it say anyway?”

Bruce nodded and crossed his arms over his chest. “Does it explain why they’ve sent a message about Harley just after we talked about her?” The suspicious accusation clear to the two boys.

Tim read the text and shook his head. “But I’m pretty sure they can see the future anyway. They always seem to know what will happen. He or she has been tipping us about even accidents. Hmm… It only says here that they’ll give us a day to handle Harley. If we don’t, they’ll tell her where to find the Joker.”

The two others in the cave sported matching frowns.

Bruce leant over the big keyboard and pulled a copy of the message to the bigger screen. “It’s about time we found out who this messenger is. Timmy, you- no, Jason, you’ll look for the Joker from here. Any cctv, mail or other routine tracking methods. Find him before Harley. Tim, you’re with me. We’re leaving now.”

Jason however was not about to be bossed around, a flicker of flames awakening under his skin. “Woah. Hey there, old man. Why am I benched? We both know Timmy is better at this data shit than me.”

Bruce only threw on his cowl and turned away. “Because I said so. Robin, now.”

Tim looked quickly between the two a few times before putting on his mask. “Uh-yeah. Coming.”

Jason glared at the retreating black figure and soon felt the clawing heath inside. Scorching anger squeezed around his every nerve and muscle. He fell to the floor, automatically getting into a sitting position and started his breathing exercise. Struggling to grab his first gulps of air and pressing it down to his lungs. He let the world fade away as he pressed on, forcing his lungs to do their damn job.

When he came back to, he noticed Alfred had left him a plate. He took a few more strong breaths before slowly raising. Calm and steady, he picked up the sandwich and went to the computer.

Chewing, he found an already existing algorithm that seemed close enough to what he wanted, and put in a few new commands. Changing up its target. Finishing up, both the sandwich and the algorithm, he left a search program running.

With a grim look he went for his bike.

“Joke…er”

\----

“Common Harley. People live here. You can’t just blow it up.”

“But that awful meanie needs to pay.”

Dick kept his hands up in a placid manner. He had found the woman rather easily on a rooftop but hadn’t found it to be an easy situation. “I’m not arguing on that, but why do the innocents here have to pay his price? Shouldn’t it be him?”

Harley took some time contemplating this before sighing loudly. She finally dropped her bazooka and Dick also let out a quiet sigh.

“They shouldn’t, but-” Harley started whining. “I just want to hurt and destroy my Puddin.”

“Ok. Yeah, totally get that, but you must think of the consequences of your actions. If you’re going after him, shouldn’t you do it another way?”

“Huu… Hm? Yeah! You’re right! Another way!”

Dick had a bad feeling. “Do you really get it?”

“Of course! I get it. I can’t keep chasing him like this and screwing people over. Instead I’ll have him chasing me!”

“Uh Harley?”

“I’ll get my hands on something he can’t ignore.”

“You ok there? Maybe you should take a breather and think this through?”

“I’ll get SOMEONE he can’t ignore!”

Before he got a word out Harley ran up to him and grabbed his hands, holding them in her own. “Common bootywing, where is your big daddy hanging tonight?”

“Please don’t call me that. Please don’t call him that. For the love of my small fragile sanity, please never hint at something like that ever again.”

“Don’t be like that sweat cheeks, I know you kinky boys dress li-eh!”

A booming explosion cut her off and startled them both.

“What was that?” Harley had gone from holding his hands to holding tight around him and Dick had to strain to move her and see where the smoke was.

“Don’t know, but I’ll have to check it out. Think you can stay out of trouble?”

“What? I’m coming along.” She said as she held on tighter. “If you ‘have’ to go there, then Batsy will go there too!”

Dick wanted to protest but stopped himself and let out a sigh. “Guess it’s better to have you where I can see you. Ok, hold on.”

He slung his left arm around her waist and jumped off the edge.

“WOHOOOOOooooooooooo!”

The man really wasn’t sure how to feel about the cheering woman with him, but he’d at least try to handle anything sent his way.

\----

“Batman, look. The explosion came from the top floor of that building.”

The dynamic duo had found their way to the racket and stood on a roof overlooking said building.

“Somebody’s in the smoke.”

Just as the bat said it, Tim also saw the two figures. One standing and one either sitting or crawling on the floor.

“Uh… does that one got a red head or-?”

“Jason.”

Bruce pulled out his grappling gun and aimed for the opposing roof, but instead of shooting he turned his head as he noticed another figure approaching. Or rather- two figures.

“YOOOHOO! Batsyyy!”

The two figures landed on the rooftop to their left and Bruce let a low grumble escape past clenched teeth.

“Uh? Nightwing, you brought Harley?” The little Robin wondered.

Dick rubbed his neck as the unstable woman let go of him. “Yeah, somehow. She doesn’t seem to be having too great of a time lately…”

Bruce looked back to the smoke lifting from the damaged building.

“She is your responsibility.” Was all he said before firing the still held out weapon. In one swift motion he was swinging high over the streets and disappearing into the shadows as he landed behind the blown-out wall.

Dick looked after him in hidden surprise. He got a hold of Harley’s wrist, but was mostly focused on the bat. “That’s it?” he turned to the kid on the other roof. “That’s all he has to say for me bringing a mentally unstable murderer to a new uncertain case? No offence Harley.”

“None taken, bootylicious~.”

Tim fiddled as he pulled out his own grapple. “Uh. Well… It seems that Ja-Red Hood is one of the two figures we could see moving in the smoke.”

Dick blanched for half a second. “That can’t mean anything good.”

Big sly grin on her face, Harley was happy to analyze the situation out loud if only to see Nighwing’s miniature wince at the mention of ‘daddy’. “Hm~ Your daddy in black being more obsessed about this red riding hood than me being a danger to the city? From what I know Hood’s not supposed to be too bad. So, I can only see that as improvement to Batsy’s mental health.”

Tim sighed and fired off his hook. “We can only hope.” And off the ledge he jumped.

“Geeze. That kid would do well with a few more minutes of smiling. I swear he’s like a mini granpa at times. His emotional trauma has turned him way too serious.” Harley let a frown cross her face for a second before her plastered grin was back.

“Are you actually trying to give a psychic evaluation on us right now?”

The doctor let her grin soften to a smile. “Nah. There’s clearly a lot I’m missing. Anything I attempted would not even be counted as half-assed.”

Dick sighed and looked across to the building. “Good to hear... I think. I’m guessing you won’t stay put here?”

Only a second and the smile was back to a toothy grin. “No~pe! You won’t get rid of me that easily.” And she twisted her captive hand so that she could hold onto his wrist, similar as he held hers.

The man gave one final sigh before moving. They took the slightly longer way, without grappling hook, jumping over rooftops before they stood looking down on four figures conversing. Quietly talking, but not peacefully.

“Hood-”

“No. Why the fuck would you protect this monster? Every day he lives is another that innocent civilians lives in fear. Lives in danger!”

Dick could see the four clearly in what looked to be a destroyed apartment. Jason held a gun in his left hand, pointed down at the grinning figure under his boot. Bruce stood facing him with high shoulders and a tightly wound jaw. Tim’s shoulders were even higher, standing to the right of the bat, as he was clearly uncomfortable and seemed to be debating whether he should just run off or intervene.

“If you decide to kill a killer-“

“Yadda yadda. ‘The number of killers will not decrese’. But you see here, Batsy, I’m already a killer. So, no worries.”

“This is about more than this. This is about morals. To follow rules as to not lose yourself. To set yourself to a higher standard and not turn into a loose cannon.”

“And what? It’s morally right to set a manic slaughterer free on the street? B, there are consequences for our actions as well as our non-actions. If I set this creep free today and he blows up a hospital tomorrow, those hundreds of deaths are not unrelated to me.”

“He will not be free. He will be sent back to Arkham.”

“Oh yes, Arkham. A place he has never killed someone in or escaped from. Wait, how did he get out here again?” Dry sarcasm dripped from Jason’s voice as he leisurely lifted his foot to stomp down hard on said man.

Harley, who Dick had an iron grip on since before, whispered to him: “I like this new guy.”

Apparently, she wasn’t silent enough as Jason addressed her without taking his eyes off the bat: “Harley, lovely to make your acquaintance. Hope you don’t mind me breaking a few of your boyfriend’s bones before letting him sleep with the fish.”

The green-haired man strained to look up to the two on the roof with his unnaturally wide grin. “Harley, darlinh-ah ha!” He was cut off by the teen kicking him once more in the neck.

The doctor’s smirk grew darker. “Only a few? And here I was thinking you had made a great first impression. Why not hand him over to me so I can give my puddin a sweet relaxing bath in some strong acid and carve some pretty drawings into his skin?”

Jason ground his foot down into the man as he continued on: “That certainly is a hard offer to refuse. But I do have some issues to beat out of him. Besides, why would you? I heard you’d eloped with some greenery goddess.”

Harley slipped out of Dick’s grip and leaped down to the others, landing on the small of Joker’s back. The impact made the beaten man let out a strangled laugh.

“Oh, totally. Me and Ivy are happy as can be together with our little creepy-meepy.” She stepped off the body and squatted down, using her index finger to poke the body still twitching with a low wheezing laughter.

Tim stepped forward, moving a little in front of the still seething bat. He had to remind himself not to tilt his head, keeping up the brave stoic Robin appearance. “You got a new pet together?”

The woman turned her head with a confused smile to the kid. Making him wonder if her every reaction was just different kinds of smiles. “Pet? Oh! You mean creepy-meepy?” She barely finished before bursting into laughter.

It seemed even the bat was affected by the scene as he had gotten his neutral mask back on as they all just watch the doctor trying, and failing, to keep her balance. They let her roll on the floor for a few seconds before she caught her breath enough to answer.

“Oh my-” she began before laughing some more. “Never let him hear you call him that. He’ll blow a raspberry.”

Dick made his way down to the rest and tried to lay a hand on Jason’s arm only to have it slapped away. Bruce also took the time to stride towards the teen, causing him to point the gun at him. Time that Harley used to roll backwards up to a standing position.

“Hehe. No, Damian would certainly throw a knife at us if we treated him like that. I swear, he’s like three, but he acts like he’s trying to get through Uni whilst avoiding any professor like the pest.”

Jason snapped his head to her and the other two took the distraction offered to get some control over the situation and get ahold of the bleeding and bruised giggling man on the floor.

Red Hood leant towards her. The teen might have come uncomfortably close to anyone else, but the doctor didn’t bat an eye. “Dami…-an. A small boy throwing knives?”

“Hm? You interested? I guess he is cute, but he doesn’t seem like a fan of being cared for, or other people at all sometimes. He pretends like he can take care of himself, but Ivy took one look at him climbing a chair to reach the countertop and since she’s made him live with us.” She had a finger pointed at her chin when she came to a sudden realization: “Oh, but he seems to be hiding from something so he’s never around if we get guests. You might not get to meet- ah, maybe I shouldn’t talk about him. Just forge-”

“Dami.” Jason was now right up in her face. Helmet almost touching her nose.

“Hood? You ok?” the little Robin asked as he came up beside him. The kid rested a hand against the teen’s stiff arm. “Maybe we should talk about this in the cave.”

“Is it Dami?”

Harley tilted her head and took half a step back. “I don’t know. Do you know him? Or what he’s running from? Is it someone dangerous?”

Jason closed their distance again. “Dangerous? What makes you say that? Is he scared?”

The doctor tilted her head the other way. “I won’t say scared, but he’s clearly trying to hide a lot of worries. Like, he is waaay more complicated than any toddler possibly could be. Like, mental development of a teen at least.”

Tim, forgetting to keep up his appearance completely as he was engaged in the conversation, tilted his head in clear wonder. “Do you have a picture of him?”

Harley fully stepped back and quickly pulled out a phone from a hidden pocket. “Sure I have. I took one just the morning before I left, when Ivy finally let him hold the spatula to flip the pancakes. He had been pestering about taking care of the food for a while. Oh, or what about the one where he’s covered in flour? Nonono, this! Look! He’d just taken in some three-legged armored rat and tried to hide it. A Sunday penguin or whatnot. It was like two months ago. Look at him hugging the little thingy!”

With an exited grin she held the screen up to the small Robin. He could see a small boy frowning with chubby cheeks, trying to hide some scaled mammal behind his back only to have a nose sticking out on one side and a long tail and hind legs on the other.

Before he got to look closer, Jason grabbed the phone and held it up to the slots in his helmet. “Dami.”

“It’s him?”

The teen nodded and Tim sighed. “I have so many questions. And isn’t this a little too coincidental?”

Jason pulled out his own phone and sent the picture to himself.

Tim turned to his brother to ask about the boy, but before he got a word out, he was pushed back.

“HEY! Where’s mah Puddin?!”

The doctor ran to the door of the room. The room that had been made emptier during their conversation, looking out into an empty hallway. The front door was closed and the debris seemed to lay where it had landed with the explosion.

She quickly turned back to the destroyed room. “Where did- huh??” Looking back in, she found it empty of any vigilante.

“Hello?”

She walked in and looked around.

“Batsy? Hood?”

With a pinch, she lifted up the edge of a carpet and saw under.

“Common! I even helped you!”

She dropped the dusty material and stomped her foot so the floorboard slightly creeked.

“Helloooou?!”

Harley crossed her arms and pouted.

“Hmph! That’s it! I’m going back to my Ivy and Meepy where at least SOMEbody will show me some human dignity.”

She again stomped her foot hard against the already cracked and creaking floor. Making the floorboards give away. “Ouh!” She jumped back as the floor under her shook and fell to the apartment below. “Aight. I’m outa here.”

\----

Red Hood’s bike came to a screeching halt in the cave.

“Gah- Jason! Have you heard about driving safely?!” Tim took a minute to get his strained arms to let go of the teen’s waist after shouting at him.

The teen jumped off the bike. Leaving the kid to stumble off, he strode towards the glowing screens.

Tim took off his mask an followed his brother, analyzing what’s on the screens. “Huh. You already got Harley and Ivy’s location up on the map before you left?”

Jason looked up after taking off his helmet. “I didn’t… That’s the result from the search for ‘R for Redemtion’.”

Tim trotted up to the keyboard at a pace that made his cape flutter behind him. “Wait. It’s-” With a few swipes another map was pulled up next to the one already there.

“The same.” Jason muttered and Tim sat back in the big chair.

“I already think there’s been too much with Harley today. All of this can’t just be a coincidence. Somebody getting past the league of assassins, then we just so happen to track the kidnapped kid to the same place where somebody that has shown themselves to hold a lot of knowledge of villains, just so happen to be?”

Jason raised a brow at the younger boy. “And bats aren’t suspicious in nature at aaaaallll. If two people have the same postman, then they must of course be workin’ together for money launderin’.” His sarcasm barely slipping from his words as he seemed to be in deep thought.

Tim let out a breath and opened the file they had on Damian to add the new picture. “That was one time. And we already knew one of them was in on it. Besides, you can’t say this isn’t suspicious.”

The teen looked back to the big screen. “No, I can’t.”

Seconds later and Nightwing jumped off his cycle. “Harley’s set on leaving early tomorrow and found a hotel. She didn’t pay for it, but she’s at least not making more trouble than crumpling the sheets for the cleaners.”

Walking closer to the two boys, Dick took a notice of what they looked at. “Huh. Where did you find such an old pic of Bruce? And in high definition? Did you touch it up? He’s so cute! But you got the eye color wrong. B, got these icy blues that sends a chill down your spine even without a black cape.”

The two younger brothers looked over to him. Jason, helmet under one arm, gestured to the pic with the other. “That may be ‘cause this is Damian, not B.”

“Really? It looks freakishly like one of those old pics of B.”

Tim spun his chair to fully face the man. “You mean the kid that Talia calls ‘habibi’ looks like the guy she calls ‘beloved’?”

Both Jason and Dick’s eyes widened as they took in the question. The teen felt like the entire world spun around him suddenly, and he took a wider step to keep his balance.

Dick shook his head. “I really don’t like what you’re implying here.”

With that, the elderly butler of the mansion made his presence known as he held out an opened book. None of the three had noticed when he had arrived, but none questioned him either. Jason took the offered piece and had a look at the pictures in it. On the left page was two pictures of a boy. On the upper one he was about three years old and frowning, hands behind his back to halfway hide a toy car.

Tim and Dick leant over to have a look. “That’s it! They are totally alike! Huh, maybe the noses are a bit off. And the kid seems to be more tan.”

Tim tilted his head as he looked over the pictures. “Did any of you tell Bruce about where we got in this investigation? Not sure I wanna be the one to tell him about our latest theory.”

“You mean our apperant new theory of Jason's informant having something to do with our kidnapping case, or the one about Bruce having a freaking son raised by assassins?” Dick rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I hope we’re wrong about this.”

Tim looked up to his eldest brother. “Do we believe in coincidences?”

Closing the album, the middle brother turned back to the screens. “No. Harley won’t be the only one heading for Myanmar, no matter who Dami has his blood from.”

“I’ll find him. And if R’s been hidin’ him, I’ll be sure to find them too.”


	12. the demon's pictures

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is this a proper ending or jus a pause for the next work in the series? Who knows. Not me, that's for sure

Jason is quick to rummage through another cabinet. He had already put bandages, hemostatic agents and whatever medical equipment he worried might be needed in the black bag behind him. Now he was rummaging for emergency provisions.

Sure the kid from the picture didn’t look starved, but the teen got the dried vegetable porridge anyway.

“And here I believed you despised the mush, young master.”

“It’s nutritious, long-lastin’ and easy to eat.”

He threw in a final water purifier before sipping up the bag.

“Even if it tastes horseshait.”

He heaved the strap over his shoulder and passed the elderly. Steps firm and certain.

“Richard and Timothy assume that you won’t be taking action before morning.”

The teen stops his stride, but he doesn’t turn. He keeps his head high and looks forward. “I know.”

And with that he starts walking again.

\-----

“RISE AND SHINE, LITTLE WING.”

The man had barley knocked once on the door before bursting into the bedroom.

Dick wasn’t discouraged by the lack of answer, as it was normal. Finding the bed already tidied up was however a little out of expectation. It was after all the teen that had insisted that they’d all be fully rested before coming to any hurried conclusion.

He guessed his brother couldn’t have gotten much rest after all. It was clear that Jason was really invested in this kid. At moments, Jason seemed to have the need to hold on to this toddler for dear life to just to cope. And maybe he had once.

None of them knew much of the two’s past. Jason had told of what little he remembered, but it wasn’t much. Sometimes it was barley information at all. Don’t get him wrong, he absolutely adored how the teen told his brothers of how he re-learned to tie shoelaces and somehow remembering an old tune from it, but it didn’t really help them.

A ray of hope in this was how Jason seemed to get better at retrieving his memories. As the teen lived his life, old stories seemed to more and more naturally weave themselves into his thoughts. Slowly, the boy himself became a source of information for them. Giving small bits just by remembering while tasting a sandwich or petting an exited dog. And Dick was overjoyed by this. His brother was healing while he himself got to spend time just… living with him. Sure, not always in the same house or place, but still living. Both of them.

For things to be like this, Dick would patiently wait, happily in fact. Spending fun times and waiting for Jason to remember and the brothers solving their kidnapping-case.

Sure, he wouldn’t want anything to happen to some poor toddler, but he didn’t mind the case taking so long as he knew he should. He was still worried, a little kid was kidnapped and missing after all, but he knew he outweighed his brother over this stranger kid. (That had changed only a little after knowing the kid might also be family, but still a stranger.)

All in all, his brothers were closer than ever. Even Bruce had started talking to the teen again. Properly talking, not just missions.

Dick felt giddy thinking about the family being happy together as he made his way to the connected bathroom. Again, he barely knocked before opening the door. He looked around the small room, finding it equally empty. Not even a towel hand by the sink like usual. The man frowned, suspicion creeping into his thoughts.

He turned quickly and exited the teen’s room.

\----

Tim sat in front of his computer. He looked through some of the newer photos on the screen. Getting little sleep, he got up early and digitalized the older pictures of Bruce. Sure, they’d only had use of one for their case, but it was nice to have a backup of these mementos of the man’s youth. Pics of before the bat and sorrow entered the mansion.

The boy just finished sorting through the new folder when his bedroom door slammed open. He instinctively turned to see his eldest brother stopping from what must have been a sprint.

“Baby bird.” The man panted. “Do you know where Jason is?”

Cocking his head, the kid turned fully in his chair. “He’s not in his room?”

Dick fully entered the room and started pacing. “No. He’s not there, not in the kitchen, not the cave, the living room, the office, not Anywhere.” He raised his voice at the end in exasperation.

Tim took in the pacing man before looking down. He knew from when Dick asked about their brother’s whereabouts. It was normal after all. Everybody left eventually.

It was irrational for Tim to feel that tugging on his hearth, like it was being squeezed. Jason was free to go where he wanted just like anybody else. It’s not like just because they’d spent time together the teen had obligation to bother with him.

“Why didn’t he say anything?”

Apparently Dick had come to the same conclusion as he kept pacing. “He said we’d talk in the morning.”

Tim looked back down, feeling numb inside. And with a quiet voice answered: “He never planned to meet us in the morning.”

Dick spun on his heels, staring daggers at the slouched boy. “Then why the fuck did he say that? What’s the point of even lying about it instead of just saying ‘bye guys, I’m off’?”

The kid covered at the angry tone in his brother’s voice. He couldn’t answer. And even if he could, he knew it wouldn’t calm the man. So in silence, he watched Dick turn his back on him in anger and exit the room.

Alone once again, Tim turned back to his screen. A picture of a small Bruce held by his mother occupied most of it. He let his eyes rest on it, trying not to think too much as he slid his own arms up, wrapping himself in them as good as he could bother without moving too much.

\----

A new picture is added to an ever-growing file. Quite a few had managed to capture a snap of what had happened after the explosion in an apartment building in the middle of Gotham. The Joker had been caught and send back behind bars and quite a few of the city’s dark protectors had been spotted.

The picture shown on screen was a rather high quality one from high up, showing all of six figures in a trashed apartment. They seemed to be conversing, even if one was holding a gun pointed at the known clown and an equally known female standing on top of the maniac. ‘All in all, not too bad’, the kid thought to himself.

The boy closed the window and pulled up another picture from the folder. This one was of Robin and the Red Hood, taken on someone’s dated phone (or maybe that was just the kid’s opinion). Robin was smiling, mid jump, at the taller vigilante. ‘Really not bad’ he though.

For the two to get along so well after such a short period of time, it exceeded his expectations by far. All of them did. Batman had been seen being working alone with the new player, and working well. They had captured two criminal groups in one night before disappearing out of sight near the docs. They had gotten along, and everybody knows that not just anyone can get along with the bat.

They had really gotten far. HE had gotten far.

Sure, the kid had been worried when he’d heard about the new vigilante calling himself “Red Hod” shooting up criminals, but then the statements from the victims about the almost caring nature of the murderer had caught the boy’s eye and he felt a little better. He supposed he couldn’t change too much about a person that had already been through so much. Todd was, and would still be, Todd no matter what.

The teen had even found back to his old “outlawed” friend. Or rather, he had found this new reckless friend for the first time was the correct statement. The two must be like some sort of magnets for each other, always finding the other and getting into each other’s messes.

The kid lent back as he humored himself with the thought. Todd had made a friend. He had lived with his very own family. Sure, he moved out, but again, Todd was Todd. All of the bats were independent, and the teen was a strong representation of that. He was still spending time with his family. His father, pseudo-grandfather and brothers.

Brothers. The small kid twisted a little of the though before shaking himself. He moved forward again and clicked to show the next picture, one taken and posted by Arsenal, of himself and Red Hood. Todd had friends and family. People that cared for him. People to help him. Everything was as it should be. Everyone was in their places.

“Gremlin, the food is ready!” a female voice sounded from behind the closed door.

Ok, maybe not everything and everyone was where they should be. He certainly wasn’t.

The kid held in a click of his tongue before jumping from the chair and to the floor. On that note, he was a little worried for where Quinn had run off to. There seldom was so little from either the news or social media when she was out and about in Gotham. Ever since the confrontation with Joker a few days ago, she’d been silent. The clown was still alive, even if both her and Todd had been there. And neither had she been thrown behind bars or sent to any institutions.

For the first time in months, Damian felt out of the loop. Todd had been silent on twitter for a while, now even gone from the streets of Gotham it seemed by what he’d dug up. Quinn had gone silent after kicking up a storm, and the behavior of the bats seemed even more sullen than usual.

Something was clearly going on, but the toddler hadn’t heard of any new villains or cases since the one with Joker. And perhaps that was it. The incident with the Joker might have opened more scars and wounded harder than the kid had assumed.

He stopped in front of the wooden door. The handle was placed unusually low, but it was still higher than the kid’s head. Had he slammed a door in the face of the healing teen? He had orchestrated the whole thing… or he was supposed to. Todd had found the Joker on his own, but everything before that was on the toddler’s small shoulders. Sending Quinn, pointing to the clown, that was him.

Even on an entirely other continent Damian couldn’t help but bring misfortune and pain to his- to the family. Again, he had to shake himself from his thoughts. He clicked his tongue and reached for the padded handle. How he let the two women control so much was beyond him. How he always managed to bring pain, even when getting a whole new shot at life, was beyond him.

Pulling on the handle, he had to walk backwards a few steps to open the door. He smelt the scent of grilled veggies and was sure to pull on a neutral mask before entering the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I heard about this thing called a "happy ending". Not sure I understood it fully. Was it "break down everything you've built up"?  
> .....  
> Must be


End file.
